San Francisco Peaks Fire Regimes Prior to 1880

[Jim]

For those with an interest in the San Francisco Peaks:

https://fireecology.springeropen.com/ar ... 204-4#Sec2
New paper.

At the highest elevations, Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine forests had a mean fire interval (MFI) of 19.7 years prior to a modern fire exclusion period beginning after 1879. Other high-elevation (> 2800 m) mixed conifer forests had MFI = 5.7 years and low-elevation (< 2,800 m) pine forests had MFI = 4.0 years. After 1879, there were no large fires through the end of the twentieth century.

The 19.7 year mean return interval confirms what I saw in the many fire scars that appear on older bristlecones on the south face of The Peaks from 2009 to 2014, as well as on the ridge leading to Doyle from Schultz, in 2020.

Nothing really earth shattering in the lower mixed conifer and ponderosa forests.

Pulses of forest regeneration were associated with the fire regime, with the largest pulse occurring shortly after fire exclusion.

In other words, there are a lot of trees, as we mostly know, that filled in the gaps after 1880 once fire was excluded. The upper slopes are no exception, with a lot of spruce and fir entering areas where they were formerly excluded.

@PrestonSands

@david_allen_3 in case still interested following our comment conversation a month back.

[david_allen_3]

Good stuff. Thanks for the update.