Tree-Ring Evidence of High Severity Fire from the Southern Appalachian Mountains, 1700-2000.

Keywords: biogeography, dendrochronology, fire, forest, southern Appalachian Mountains
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 28

Abstract

In November 2016, a complex of wildfires burned at high severity in Great Smoky Mountains National and the adjacent towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. One question that has arisen from this event is whether high severity fires like this were common in the past and therefore likely to continue occurring in the future in southern Appalachian forests. The presence of Table Mountain Pine, a species with adaptations that are suited to high severity fire, suggests that higher severity fire played some role in the development of these forests. To assess the past role of high severity fire in southern Appalachian forests we used dendrochronology to look for evidence of both low and high severity historical fire events. Tree-ring fire history reconstructions show that fire has been a significant influence on forest ecosystems in the southern Appalachians for at least 400 years, with mean fire return intervals on south-facing upper ridges as short as three years during the 1800s. Analysis of tree establishment dates reveals distinct pine cohorts at regular intervals, suggesting that mixed or high severity fire effects occurred in these stands. Cohorts occurred regularly across many, but not all of the 16 fire history sites spanning Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. Questions remain about the spatial extent of high severity fire and impacts outside of the upper ridges where yellow pine wood remnants have been preserved. However, higher severity fires did play a role in this landscape for at least several centuries before the advent of fire protection.