Changes in forest structure, fuels and potential fire behaviour since 1873 in the Lake Tahoe Basin, USA

Applied Vegetation Science

Volumn 17, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 17-31

  Taylor, Alan H ^a   Vandervlugt, Anna M ^a   Maxwell, R Stockton ^a,d   Beaty, Robert M ^b   Airey, Catherine ^a   Skinner, Carl N ^c  

^a PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b CSIRO   (Australia)

^c PACIFIC SOUTHWEST RESEARCH STATION   (United States)

^d RADFORD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Fire behaviour; Fire exclusion; Forest reconstruction; Forest structure; Jeffrey pine; Lodgepole pine; Mixed conifer; Red fir; Restoration

Indexed keywords

ABIES MAGNIFICA; CONIFEROPHYTA; PINUS CONTORTA; PINUS JEFFREYI;

EID: 84890310845     PISSN: 14022001     EISSN: 1654109X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/avsc.12049     Document Type: Article

References (71)

1. Agee, J.K., Wright, C.S., Williamson, N. & Huff, M.H. 2002. Foliar moisture content of Pacific Nortwest vegetation and its relation to wildland fire behaviour. Forest Ecology and Managmeent 167: 57-66.
2. Agee, J.K. & Skinner, C.N. 2005. Basic principles of forest fuel reduction treatments. Forest Ecology and Management 211: 83-96.
3. Anderson, H.E. 1982. Aids to determining fuel models for estimating fire behavior. Intermountain Research Station, General Technical Report INT-122. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
4. Arno, S.F. & Fiedler, C.E. 2005. Mimicking nature's fire: restoring fire prone forests in the west. Island Press, Washington, DC, US.
5. Barbour, M.G. & Minnich, R.A. 2000. California upland forests and woodlands. Barbour, M.G. & Billings, W.D. (eds.) North American terrestrial vegetation, pp. 131-164. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, US.
6. Barbour, M., Kelley, E., Maloney, P., Rizzo, D., Royce, E. & Fites-Kaufmann, J. 2002. Present and past old-growth forests of the Lake Tahoe Basin, Sierra Nevada, US. Journal of Vegetation Science 13: 461-472.
7. Beaty, R.M. & Taylor, A.H. 2007. Fire disturbance and forest structure in old-growth mixed conifer forests in the northern Sierra Nevada, California. Journal of Vegetation Science 18: 879-890.
8. Beaty, R.M. & Taylor, A.H. 2008. Fire history and the structure and dynamics of a mixed conifer forest landscape in the northern Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe Basin, California, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 255: 707-719.
9. Beesley, D. 1996. Reconstructing the landscape: an environmental history, 1820-1960. Erman, D.C. (ed.) Sierra Nevada ecosystem project - final report to congress, Vol. II: assessment and scientific basis for management options, pp. 3-24. University of California, Centers for Water and Wildland Resources, Davis, CA, US.
10. Blonski, K.S. & Schramel, J.L. 1981. Photo series for quantifying natural forest residues: southern Cascades and northern Sierra Nevada. Pacific Southwest Research Station, General Technical Report PSW-5. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
11. Brown, J.K. 1974. Handbook for inventorying downed woody material. Intermountain Research Station, General Technical Report INT-16. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
12. Brown, T.J., Hall, B.L. & Westerling, A.L. 2004. The impact of twenty-first century climate change on wildland fire danger in the western United States: an applications perspective. Climatic Change 62: 365-388.
13. Brown, P.M., Wienk, C.L. & Symstad, A.J. 2008. Fire and forest history at Mount Rushmore. Ecological Applications 18: 1984-1999.
14. Burgan, R.E. & Rothermel, R.C. 1984. BEHAVE: fire behavior predition and fuel modeling system - FUEL subsystem. Intermountain Research Station, General Technical Report INT-167. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
15. Caprio, A.C. 2008. Reconstructing fire history of lodgepole pine on Chagoopa Plateau, Sequoia National Park, California Nanog, M.G. (ed.) Managing fire and fuels in the remaining wildlands and open spaces of the southwestern United States, pp. 255-261. Pacific Southwest Research Station General Technical Report PSW-189, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
16. Christopherson, J., Lewis, S.R. & Havercamp, M. 1996. Lake Tahoe's forest health consensus group. Journal of Forestry 94: 10-12.
17. Collins, B.M., Everett, R.G. & Stephens, S.L. 2011. Impacts of fire exclusion and recent managed fire on forest structure in old growth Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests. Ecosphere 2: 1-14.
18. Elliot-Fisk, D. 1996. Lake Tahoe case study. Erman, D.C. (ed.) Sierra Nevada ecosystem project - final report to congress, Vol. II: assessment and scientific basis for management options, pp. 217-268. University of California, Centers for Water and Wildland Resources, Davis, CA, US.
19. Finney, M.A. 2004. FARSITE: fire area simulator-model development and evaluation. Rocky Mountain Research Station Research Paper RMRS-4. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
20. Franklin, J.F. & Fites-Kaufmann, J.A. 1996. Assessment of late-successional forests of the Sierra Nevada. Erman, D.C. (ed.) Sierra Nevada ecosystem project: final report to congress, Vol. II, assessments and scientific basis for management options, pp. 627-662. University of California, Centers for Water and Wildland Resources, Davis, CA, US.
21. Fritts, H.C. & Swetnam, T.W. 1989. Dendroecology: a tool for evaluating variations in past and present forest environments. Advances in Ecological Research 19: 111-188.
22. Fulé, P.Z., Covington, W.W. & Moore, M.M. 1997. Determining reference conditions for ecosystem management of southwestern ponderosa pine forests. Ecological Applications 7: 895-908.
23. Fulé, P.Z., Covington, W.W., Moore, M.M. & Heinlein, T.A. 2002. Natural variability in forests of the Grand Canyon, USA. Journal of Biogeography 29: 31-47.
24. Fulé, P.Z., Crouse, J.E., Cocke, A.E., Moore, M.M. & Covington, W.W. 2004. Changes in canopy fuels and potenital fire behavior 1880-2040: Grand Canyon, Arizona. Ecological Modelling 175: 231-248.
25. Fulé, P.Z., Korb, J.E. & Wu, R. 2009. Changes in forest structure in a mixed conifer forest, Colorado, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 258: 1200-1210.
26. Graham, R., McCaffrey, S. & Jain, T. 2004. Science basis for changing forest structure to modify wildfire behavior and severity. Rocky Mountain Research Station General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-120. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
27. Gruell, G. 2001. Fire in Sierra Nevada forests: a photographic interpretation of ecological change since 1849. Mountain Press, Missoula, MT, US.
28. Harmon, M.E., Cromack, K. Jr & Smith, B.G. 1987. Coarse woody debris in mixed-conifer forests, Sequoia National Park, California. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 17: 1265-1272.
29. Hickman, J.C. 1993. The Jepson manual: higher plants of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, US.
30. Huffman, D.W., Moore, M.M., Covington, W.W., Crouse, J.E. & Fulé, P.Z. 2001. Ponderosa pine forest reconstruction: comparisons with historical data. Vance, R.K., Edminster, C.B., Covington, W.W. & Blake, J.A.(eds.). (comps.). Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and conservation: steps toward stewardship. Rocky Mountain Research Station Proceedings RMRS-22. United States Department of Agriculture, 3-8. Washington, DC, US.
31. Hymanson, Z.P. & Collopy, M.W. 2010. An integrated science plan for the Lake Tahoe Basconceptual framework and research strategies. Pacific Southwest Research Station General Technical Report PSW-GTR-226. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
32. Keane, R.E., Reinhardt, E.D., Scott, J., Gray, K. & Reardon, J. 2005. Estimating forest canopy bulk density using six indirect methods. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35: 724-739.
33. Kimmey, J.W. 1955. Rate of deterioration of fire-killed timber in California. Circular 962. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
34. Lindström, S. 2000. A contextual overview of human land use and environmental conditions. Murphy, D.D. & Knopp, C.M. (eds.) Lake Tahoe Watershed assessment: Volume I, pp. 23-127. Pacific Southwest Research Station General Technical Report PSW-175. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
35. Manley, P.N., Fites-Kaufman, J.A., Barbour, M.G., Schlesinger, M.D. & Rizzo, D.M. 2000. Biological integrity. Murphy, D.D. & Knopp, C.M. (eds.) Lake Tahoe Watershed assessment, Vol. I, pp. 403-597. Pacific Southwest Research Station General Technical Report PSW-175. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
36. Maser, C., Anderson, R.G., Cromack, K.J., Williams, J.T. & Martin, R.E. 1979. Dead and down woody material. Thomas, J.W. (ed.) Wildlife habitats in managed forests - the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington, pp. 78-95. Pacific Northwest Research Station General Technical Report PNW-118. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
37. Mast, J.N. & Wolf, J.J. 2004. Ecotonal changes and altered tree spatial patterns in lower mixed-conifer forests. Landscape Ecology 19: 167-180.
38. McCune, B., Grace, J.B. & Urban, D.L. 2002. Analysis of ecological communities. MJM Software, Gold Beach, OR, US.
39. McKelvey, K.S. & Johnston, J.D. 1992. Historical perspectives on forests of the Sierra Nevada and the Transverse Ranges of southern California: forest conditions at the turn of the century. Verner, J., Mckelvey, K.S., Noon, B.R., Gutierrez, R.J., Gould, G.I. & Beck, T.W. (eds.) The California Spotted Owl: a technical assessment of its current conditions, pp. 225-246. Pacific Southwest Research Station General Technical Report PSW-GTR-133. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
40. Miller, J.D., Safford, H.D., Crimmins, M. & Thode, A.E. 2009. Quantitative evidence for increasing forest fire severity in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Mountains, California and Nevada, U.S.A. Ecosystems 12: 16-32.
41. Miller, J.D., Skinner, C.N., Safford, H.D., Knapp, E.E. & Ramirez, C.M. 2012. Trends and causes of severity, size, and number of fires in northwestern California, USA. Ecological Applications 22: 184-203.
42. Minnich, R.A., Barbour, M.G., Burk, J.H. & Fernau, R.F. 1995. Sixty years of change in Californian conifer forests of the San Bernardino Mountains. Conservation Biology 9: 902-914.
43. Minnich, R.A., Barbour, M.G., Burk, J.H. & Fernau, R.F. 2000. Californian mixed-conifer forests under unmanaged fire regimes in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, Baja California, Mexico. Journal of Biogeography 27: 105-129.
44. Morgan, P., Aplet, G.H., Haufler, J.B., Humphries, H.C., Moore, M.M. & Wilson, W.D. 1994. Historical range of variability. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 2: 87-111.
45. Nagel, T.A. & Taylor, A.H. 2005. Fire and persistence of montane chaparral in mixed conifer forest landscapes in the northern Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe Basin, California, USA. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 132: 442-457.
46. North, M., Innes, J. & Zald, H. 2007. Comparison of thinning and prescribed fire restoration treatments to Sierran mixed-conifer historic conditions. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 37: 331-342.
47. Noss, R.F., Franklin, J.F., Baker, W.L., Schoennagel, T. & Moyle, P.B. 2006. Managing fire-prone forests in the western United States. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4: 481-487.
48. Parker, A.J. 1986. Environmental and historical factors affecting red and white fir regeneration in ecotonal forests. Forest Science 32: 339-347.
49. Parker, A.J. 1993. Structural variation and dynamics of lodgepole pine forests in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 83: 613-629.
50. Reinhardt, E.D. & Crookston, N.L. 2003. The fire and fuels extension to the forest vegetation simulator. Rocky Mountain Research Station General Technical Report RMRS-GRT-116. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
51. Reinhardt, E.D., Keane, R.E., Calkin, D.E. & Cohen, J.D. 2008. Objectives and considerations for wildland fuel treatment in forested ecosystems of the interior western United States. Forest Ecology and Management 256: 1997-2006.
52. Rogers, J.J. 1984. ECOSIM: a system for projecting multiresource outputs under alternative forest management regimes. Rocky Mountain Research Station Administrative Report, Fort Collins, CO, US.
53. Rothermel, R.C. & Rinehart, G.C. 1983. Field procedures for verification and adjustment of fire behavior predictions. Intermountain Research Station General Technical Report INT-142. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
54. Safford, H.D., Schmidt, D.A. & Carlson, C.H. 2009. Effects of fuel treatments on fire severity in an area of wildland-urban interface, Angora Fire, Lake Tahoe Basin, California. Forest Ecology and Management 258: 773-787.
55. Scholl, A.E. & Taylor, A.H. 2006. Regeneration patterns in old-growth red fir - western white pine forests in the northern Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 235: 143-154.
56. Scholl, A.E. & Taylor, A.H. 2010. Fire regimes, forest change, and self-organization in an old-growth mixed-conifer forest, Yosemite National Park, USA. Ecological Applications 20: 362-380.
57. Scott, J.H. & Reinhardt, E.D. 2001. Assessing crown fire potential by linking models of surface and crown fire behavior. Rocky Mountain Research Station Research Paper RMRS-29. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
58. Scott, J.H. & Burgan, R.E. 2005. Standard fire behavior fuel models: a comprehensive set for use with Rothermel's surface fire spread model. Rocky Mountain Research Station General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-153. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
59. Skinner, C.N. & Chang, C. 1996. Fire regimes, past and present. Erman, D.C. (ed.) Sierra Nevada ecosystem project - final report to congress, Vol. II: assessment and scientific basis for management options, pp. 1041-1069. University of California, Centers for Water and Wildland Resources, Davis, CA, US.
60. Sokal, R. & Rohlf, F. 1995. Biometry: the principles and practice of statistics in biological research. Freeman & Co., New York, NY, US.
61. Stephens, S.L. & Gill, S.J. 2005. Forest structure and mortality in an old-growth Jeffrey pine-mixed conifer forest in north-western Mexico. Forest Ecology and Management 205: 15-28.
62. Strong, D.H. 1984. Tahoe: an environmental history. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, US.
63. Taylor, A.H. 2000. Fire regimes and forest changes in mid and upper montane forests of the southern Cascades, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, USA. Journal of Biogeography 27: 87-104.
64. Taylor, A.H. 2004. Identifying forest reference conditions on early cut-over lands, Lake Tahoe Basin, USA. Ecological Applications 14: 1903-1920.
65. Taylor, A.H. & Beaty, R.M. 2005. Climatic influences on fire regimes in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains, Lake Tahoe Basin, Nevada, USA. Journal of Biogeography 32: 425-438.
66. Taylor, A.H. & Skinner, C.N. 2003. Spatial patterns and controls on historical fire regimes and forest structure in the Klamath Mountains. Ecological Applications 13: 704-719.
67. Thomas, J.W. 1979. Wildlife habitats in managed forests: the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington. Handbook 553. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US.
68. van Wagtendonk, J.W. & Fites-Kaufman, J.A. 2006. Sierra Nevada bioregion. Sugihara, N.G., van Wagtendonk, J.W., Fites-Kaufmann, J.A., Shaffer, K.E. & Thode, A.E. (eds.) Fire in California's ecosystems, pp. 264-294. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, US.
69. van Wagtendonk, J.W. & Moore, P.E. 2010. Fuel deposition rates of montane and subalpine conifers in the central Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 259: 2122-2132.
70. van de Water, K. & North, M. 2010. Fire history of coniferous riparian forests in the Sierra Nevada. Forest Ecology and Management 260: 384-395.
71. White, P.S. & Walker, J.L. 1997. Approximating nature's variation: selecting and using reference information in restoration ecology. Restoration Ecology 5: 338-349.