Past, present, and future old growth in frequent-fire conifer forests of the western United States

Ecology and Society

Volumn 12, Issue 2, 2007, Pages

  Abella, Scott R ^a   Covington, W Wallace ^b   Fulé, Peter Z ^b   Lentile, Leigh B ^c   Meador, Andrew J Sánchez ^d   Morgan, Penelope ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA   (United States)

^b NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO   (United States)

^d University of Idaho ^*

Author keywords

Ecological restoration; Evolutionary environment; Management; Mixed conifer; Pinus jeffreyi; Pinus ponderosa; Range of variability; Sequoia giganteum

Indexed keywords

CONIFEROUS FOREST; FOREST FIRE; FOREST MANAGEMENT; MIXED FOREST; OLD-GROWTH FOREST; RESTORATION ECOLOGY; THINNING; WILDFIRE;

NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES;

CONIFEROPHYTA; PINUS JEFFREYI; PINUS PONDEROSA; SEQUIOA; SEQUOIADENDRON;

EID: 41249085493     PISSN: None     EISSN: 17083087     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5751/ES-02171-120216     Document Type: Article

References (92)

1. Abella, S. R., and W. W. Covington. 2006. Forest ecosystems of an Arizona Pinus ponderosa landscape: Multifactor classification and implications for ecological restoration. Journal of Biogeography 33:1368-1383.
2. Abella, S. R., P. Z. Fulé, and W. W. Covington. 2006. Diameter caps for thinning southwestern ponderosa pine forests: viewpoints, effects, and, tradeoffs. Journal of Forestry 104:407-414.
3. Agee, J. K. 2003. Historical range of variability in eastern Cascades forests, Washington, USA. Landscape Ecology 18:725-740.
4. Atlen, C. D., M. Savage, D.A. Falk, K. F. Suckling, T. W. Swetnam, T. Shulke, P. B. Stacey, P. Morgan, M. Hoffman, and J. T. Klingel. 2002. Ecological restoration of southwestern ponderosa pine ecosystems: A broad perspective. Ecological Applications 12:1418-1433.
5. Archer, S. 1990. Development and stability of grass/woody mosaics in a subtropical savanna parkland, Texas, U.S.A. Journal of Biogeography 17:453-462.
6. Baisan, C. H., and T. W. Swetnam. 1990. Fire history on a desert mountain range: Rincon Mountain Wilderness, Arizona, U.S.A. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 20:1559-1569.
7. Barbour, M., E. Kelley, P. Maloney, D. R izzo, E. Royce, and J. Fites-Kaufmann. 2002. Present and past old-growth forests of the Lake Tahoe Basin, Sierra Nevada, US. Journal of Vegetation Science 13:461-472.
8. Bekker, M. F., and A. H. Taylor. 2001. Gradient analysis of fire regimes in montane forests of the southern Cascade Range, Thousand Lakes Wilderness, California, USA. Plant Ecology 155:15-28.
9. Belsky, A. J., and D. M. Blumenthal. 1997. Effects of livestock grazing on stand dynamics and soils in upland forests of the Interior West. Conservation Biology 11:315-327.
10. Biswell, H. H. 1972. Fire ecology in ponderosa-pine grassland. Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference Proceedings 12:69-97.
11. Bonnicksen, T. M., and E. C. Stone. 1982. Reconstruction of a presettlement giant sequoia-mixed conifer forest community using the aggregation approach. Ecology 63:1134-1138.
12. Boyden, S., D. Binkley, and W. Shepperd. 2005. Spatial and temporal patterns in structure, regeneration, and mortality of an old-growth ponderosa pine forest in the Colorado Front Range. Forest Ecology and Management 219:43-55.
13. Breshears, D. D., N. S. Cobb, P. M. Rich, K. P. Price, C. D. Allen, R. G. Ballce, W. H. Romme, J. H. Kastens, M. L. Floyd, J. Belnap, J. J. Anderson, O. B. Myers, and C. D. Meyer. 2005. Regional vegetation die-off in response to global-change-type drought. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102:15144-15148.
14. Briske, D. D., S. D. Fuhlendorf, and F. E. Smeins. 2005. State-and-transition models, thresholds, and rangeland health: A synthesis of ecological concepts and perspectives. Rangeland Ecology and Management 58:1-10.
15. Brown, D. E., editor. 1994. Biotic communities: Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
16. Brown, H. E., M. B. Baker, J. J., Rogers, W. P. Clary, J. L. Kovner, F. R. Larson, C. C. Avery, and R. E. Campbell. 1974. Opportunities for increasing water yields and other multiple use values on ponderosa pine forest lands. U.S. Forest Service Research Paper RM-129.
17. Brown, J. K., and J. K. Smith, editors. 2000. Wildland fire in ecosystems: Effects of fire on flora. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report 42, volume 2.
18. Brown, P. M., M. G. Ryan, and T. G. Andrews. 2000 Historical fire frequency in ponderosa pine stands in research natural areas, central Rocky Mountains and Black Hills, US. Natural Areas Journal 20:133-139.
19. Caprio, A. C., and P. Lineback. 2002. Pre-twentieth century fire history of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park: A review and evaluation of our khowledge. Pages 180-199 in Proceedings of the conference on fire in Califorifia ecosystems: Integrating ecology, prevention, and management. Miscellaneous Publication No. 1. Association for Fire Ecology, Davis, California, USA.
20. Certini, G. 2005. Effects of fire on properties of forest soils: A review. Oecologia 143:1-10.
21. Clary, W. P. 1975. Range management and its ecological basis in the ponderosa pine type of Arizona: The status of our knowledge. U.S. Forest Service Research Paper RM-158.
22. Cooper, C. F. 1960. Changes in vegetation, structure, and growth of southwestern pine forests since white settlement. Ecological Monographs 30:129-164.
23. Covington, W. W., W. A. Niering, E. Starkey, and J. Walker. 1999. Ecosystem restoration and management: Scientific principles and concepts. Pages 599-617 in Ecological stewardship: A common reference for ecosystem management. Elsevier Scientific, Ltd. Oxford, UK.
24. Covington, W. W., and M. M. Moore. 1994. Postsettlement changes in natural fire regimes and forest structure: Ecological restoration of old-growth ponderosa pine forests. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 2:153-181.
25. Covington, W. W., R. L. Everett, R. Steele, L. L. Irwin, T. A. Daer, and A. N. D. Auclair. 1994. Historical and anticipated changes in forest ecosystems of the inland west of the United States. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 2:13-63.
26. Dahms, C. W., and B. W. Geils, technical editors. 1997. An assessment of forest ecosystem health in the Southwest. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report RM-GTR-295.
27. Dale, L. 2006. Wildfire policy and fire use on public lands in the United States. Society and Natural Resources 19:275-284.
28. DeLuca, T. H., and A. Sala. 2006. Frequent fire alters nitrogen transformations in ponderosa pine stands of the Inland Northwest. Ecology 87:2511-2522.
29. Ehle, D. S., and W. L. Baker. 2003. Disturbance and stand dynamics in ponderosa pine forests in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA. Ecological Monographs 73:543-566.
30. Everett, R., P. Hessburg, J. Lehmkuhl, M. Jensen, and P. Bourgeron. 1994. Old forests in dynamic landscapes: Dry site forests in eastern Oregon and Washington. Journal of Forestry 92:22-25.
31. Everett, R., R. Schellhaus, D. Keenum, D. Spurbeck, and P. Ohlson. 2000. Fire history in the ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests on the east slope of the Washington Cascades. Forest Ecology and Management 129:207-225.
32. Evett, R. R., R. A. Woodward, W. Harrison, J. Suero, P. Raggio, and J. W. Bartolome. 2006. Phytolith evidence for the lack of a grass understory in a Sequoiadendron giganteum (Taxodiaceae) stand in the central Sierra Nevada, California. Madroño 53:351-366.
33. Fiedler, C. E., C. E. Keegan, D. P. Wichman, and S. F. Arno. 1999. Product and economic implications of ecological restoration. Forest Products Journal 49:19-23.
34. Finney, M. A. 2001. Design of regular landscape fuel treatment patterns for modifying fire growth and behavior. Forest Science 47:219-228.
35. Fornwalt, P. J., M. R. Kaufmann, L. S. Huckaby, J. M. Stoker, and T. J. Stohlgren. 2003. Non-native plant invasions in managed and protected ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests of the Colorado Front Range. Forest Ecology and Management 177:515-527.
36. Fulé, P. Z., W. W. Covington, and M. M. Moore. 1997. Determining reference conditions for ecosystem management of southwestern ponderosa pine forests. Ecological Applications 7:895-908.
37. Fulé, P. Z., W. W. Covington, M. M. Moore, T. A. Heinlein, and A. E. M. Waltz. 2002. Natural variability in forests of the Grand Canyon, USA. Journal of Biogeography 29:31-47.
38. Fulé, P. Z., W. W. Covington, M. T. Stoddard, and D. Bertolette. 2006. "Minimal-impact" restoration treatments have limited effects on forest structure and fuels at Grand Canyon USA. Restoration Ecology 14:357-368.
39. Grissino-Mayer, H. D., W. H. Romme, L. M. Floyd, and D. D. Hanna. 2004. Climatic and human influences on fire regimes of the southern San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA. Ecology 85:1708-1724.
40. Gundale, M. J., and T. H., DeLuca. 2006 Temperature and source material influence ecological attributes of ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir charcoal. Forest Ecology and Management 231:86-93.
41. Habeck, J. R. 1990. Old-growth ponderosa pine-western larch forests of western Montana: Ecology and management. Northwest Environmental Journal 6:271-292.
42. Harrington, M. G., and S. S. Sackett. 1992. Past and present fire influences on southwestern ponderosa pine old growth. Pages 44-50 in M.R. Kaufmann, W. H. Moir, and R. L. Bassett, technical coordinators. Old-growth forests in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions: Proceedings of a work hop. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report RM-213.
43. Harrod, R. J., B. H. McRae, and W. E. Hartl.. 1999. Historical stand reconstruction in ponderosa pine forests to guide silvicultural prescriptions. Forest Ecology and Management 114:433-446.
44. Heinlein, T. A., M. M. Moore, P. Z. Fulé, and W. W. Covington. 2005. Fire history and stand structure of two ponderosa pine-mixed conifer sites: San Francisco Peaks, Arizona, USA. International Journal of Wildland Fire 14:307-320.
45. Johnson, M. A. 1994. Changes in southwestern forests: Stewardship implications. Journal of Forestry 92:16-19.
46. Kaufmann, M. R., W. H. Moir, and W. W. Covington. 1992. Old-growth forests: What do we know about their ecology and management in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions? Pages 1-11 in M.R. Kaufmann, W.H. Moir, and R.L. Bassett, technical coordinators. Old-growth forests in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions: Proceedings of a workshop, 1992, Portal, Arizona, USA. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report RM-213.
47. Kaufmann, M. R., K. Ryan, P. Z. Fulé, and W. H. Romme. 2004. Restoration of ponderosa pine forests in the interior western United States after logging, grazing, and fire suppression. Pages 481-500 in J. A. Stanturf and P. Madsen, editors. Restoration of boreal and temperate forests. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA.
48. Keeley, J. E. 2006. Fire management impacts on invasive plants in the western United States. Conservation Biology 20:375-384.
49. Keeley, J. E., and N. L. Stephenson. 2000. Restoring natural fire regimes to the Sierra Nevada in an era of global change. Pages 255-265 in D. N. Cole, S. F. McCool, W. T. Borrie, and J O'Laughlin, compilers. Wilderness science in a time of change conference-volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management, 1999, Missoula, Montana, USA. U.S. Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5.
50. Keeling, E. G., A. Sala, and T. H. DeLuca. 2006. Effects of fire exclusion on forest structure and composition in unlogged ponderosa pine/ Douglas-fir forests. Forest Ecology and Management 237:418-428.
51. 13C of soil organic matter. Ecoscience 8:478-488.
52. Kerns, B. K., M. M. Moore, M. E. Timpson, and S. C. Hart. 2003. Soil properties associated with vegetation patches in a Pinus ponderosa- bunchgrass mosaic. Western North American Naturalist 63:452-462.
53. Kilgore, B. M. 1971. Response of breeding bird populations to habitat changes ina giant sequoia forest. American Midland Naturalist 85:135-152.
54. Laughlin, D. C., J. D. Bakker, M..T. Stoddard, M. L. Daniels, J. D. Springer, C. N. Gildar, A. M. Green, and W. W. Covington. 2004. Toward reference conditions: Wildfire effects on flora in an old-growth ponderosa pine forest. Forest Ecology and Management 199:137-152.
55. Lentile L. B., F. W. Smith, and W. D. Shepperd. 2005. Patch structure, fire-scar formation and tree regeneration in a large mixed-severity fire in the South Dakota Black Hills, USA. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35:2875-2885.
56. Little, E. L. 1971. Atlas of United States trees. Volume 1. Conifers and important hardwoods. U. S. Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication 1146. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., USA.
57. MacArthur, R. H. 1972. Geographical ecology: Patterns in the distribution of species. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
58. Madany, M. H., and N. E. West. 1983. Livestock grazing-fire regime interactions within montane forests of Zion National. Park, Utah. Ecology. 64:661-667.
59. Mast, J. N., P. Z. Fulé, M. M. Moore, W. W. Covington, and A. E. M. Waltz. 1999. Restoration of presettlement age structure of an Arizona ponderosa pine forest. Ecological Applications 9:228-239.
60. McKenzie, D., Z. Gedalof, D. L. Peterson, and P. Mote. 2004. Climate change, wildfire, and conservation. Conservation Biology 18:890-902.
61. Metlen, K. L., and C. E. Fiedler. 2006. Restoration treatment effects on the understory of ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests in western Montana, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 222:355-369.
62. Milchunas, D. G. 2006. Responses of plant communities to grazing in the southwestern United States. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-169.
63. Miller, C., and D. L. Urban. 2000. Modeling the effects of fire management alternatives on Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests. Ecological Applications 10:85-94.
64. Moir, W. H. 1966. Influence of ponderosa pine on herbaceous vegetation. Ecology 47:1045-1048.
65. Moore, M. M., W. W. Covington, and P. Z. Fulé. 1999. Reference conditions and ecological restoration: A southwestern ponderosa pine perspective. Ecological Applications 9:1266-1277.
66. Morgan, P., G. H. Aplet, J. B. Haufler, H. C. Humphries, M. M. Moore, and W. D. Wilson. 1994. Historical range of variability: A useful tool for evaluating ecosystem change. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 2:87-111.
67. Morgan, T. A., C. E. Fiedler, and C. Woodall. 2002. Characteristics of dry site old-growth ponderosa pine in the Bull Mountains of Montana, USA. Natural Areas Journal 22:11-19.
68. Parsons, D. J., D. M. Graber, J. K. Agee, and J. W. van Wagtendonk. 1986. Natural fire management in national parks. Environmental Management 10:21-24.
69. Porter, S. D., and C. D. Jorgensen. 1988. Longevity of harvester ant colonies in southern Idaho. Journal of Range Management 41:104-107.
70. Roughton, R. D. 1972. Shrub age structures on a mule deer winter range in Colorado. Ecology 53:615-625.
71. Savage, M., and J. N. Mast. 2005. How resilient are southwestern ponderosa pine forests after crown fires? Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35:967-977.
72. Scheffer, M., S. Carpenter, J. Foley, C. Folke, and B. Walker. 2001. Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems. Nature 413:591-596.
73. Schoennagel T. L., T. T. Veblen, and W. H. Romme. 2004. The interaction of fire, fuels and climate across Rocky Mountain forests. BioScience 54:661-676.
74. Shinneman, D. J., and W. L. Baker. 1997. Nonequilibrium dynamics between catastrophic disturbances and old-growth forests in ponderosa pine landscapes of the Black Hills. Conservation Biology 11:1276-1288.
75. Smith, J.K., editor. 2000. Wildland fire in ecosystems: Effects of fire on fauna. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report RMRS-GTR42, volume 1.
76. Smith, J. K., and W. C. Fischer. 1997. Fire ecology of forest habitat types of northern Idaho. U. S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-GTR-363.
77. Stephens, S. L. 2001. Fire history of adjacent Jeffrey pine and upper montane forests in the eastern Sierra Nevada. International Journal of Wildland Fire 10: 161-176.
78. Stephenson, N. L. 1999. Reference conditions for giant sequoia forest restoration: Structure, process, and precision. Ecological, Applications 9:1253-1265.
79. Strom, B. A., and P. Z. Fulé. 2007. Pre-wildfire fuel treatments affect long-term ponderosa pine forest dynamics. International Journal of Wildland Fire 16:128-138.
80. Suding, K. N., K. L. Gross, and G. R. Houseman. 2004. Alternative states and positive feedbacks in restoration ecology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19:46-53.
81. Swetnam, T. W., and C. H. Baisan. 1996. Historical fire regime patterns in the southwestern United States since AD 1700. Pages 11-32 in C. D. Allen, technical editor. Fire effects in southwestern forests: Proceedings of the second La Mesa Fire symposium, 1994, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report RM-GTR-286.
82. Swezy, D. M., and J. K. Agee. 1991. Prescribed-fire effects on fine-root and tree mortality in oldgrowth ponderosa pine. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 21:626-634.
83. Taylor, A. H., and R. M. Beaty. 2005. Climatic influences on fire regimes in the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains, Lake Tahoe Basin, Nevada, USA. Journal of Biogeography 32:425-438.
84. Tecle, A., and W. W. Covington, technical editors. 1991. Multiresource management of southwestern ponderosa pineforests: The status of knowledge. U. S. Forest Service, Southwestern Region, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
85. Vankat, J. L., and J. Major. 1978. Vegetation changes in Sequoia National Park, California. Journal of Biogeography 5:377-402.
86. Waltz, A. E. M., P. Z. Fulé, W. W. Covington, and M. M. Moore. 2003. Diversity in ponderosa pine forest structure following ecological restoration treatments. Forest Science 49:885-900.
87. Weaver, H. 1947. Fire - nature's thinning agent in ponderosa pine stands. Journal of Forestry 45:437-444.
88. White, A. S. 1985. Presettlement regeneration patterns in a southwestern ponderosa pine stand. Ecology 66:589-594.
89. Wilson, E. O. 1992. The diversity of life. W.W. Norton and Company, New York, New York, USA.
90. Woodall, C. W., C. E. Fiedler, and K. S. Milner. 2003. Inter-tree competition in uneven-aged ponderosa pine stands. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 33:1719-1726.
91. Youngblood, A., T. Max, and K. Coe. 2004. Stand structure in eastside old-growth ponderosa pine forests of Oregon and northern California. Forest Ecology and Management 199:191-217.
92. Zier, J. L., and W. L. Baker. 2006. A century of vegetation change in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado: An analysis using repeat photography. Forest Ecology and Management 228:251-262.