A Multi-Century Fire History from the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia

Keywords: dendrochronology, tree ring, fire history, West Virginia
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

Tree-ring reconstructions of past fire activity provide context for forest management and
restoration plans. Our primary objective in this study was to develop a new fire history in the Potomac
Highlands of West Virginia where published reconstructions are particularly sparse, but efforts to
develop prescribed fire plans are on the rise. We produced a 293-year (1727–2019) post-settlement fire
history from 57 yellow pine (P. pungens, P. rigida, and P. virginiana) trees spread across five topographically diverse sites on Short Mountain in Hampshire County. The filtered composite mean fire interval was 7–15 years at individual sites, while a landscape-scale analysis indicates that fire frequency did not change over nearly 160 years (1855–2011). Fires, however, were significantly less extensive during the “exclusion era” (post-1930). No conclusive relationships between drought and fire were identified, although the most extensive fire year (1930) was uniquely dry. These findings complement existing regional fire histories and provide a new context for the application of prescribed fire in the Potomac Highlands.