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Project ID: 01C-3-3-09

Year: 2002

Date Started: 08/16/2002

Date Completed: 12/11/2006

Title: Fire Regimes and Successional Dynamics of Yellow Pine (Pinus) Stands in the Central Appalachian Mountains

Project Proposal Abstract: We propose an investigation of fire history, age structure, and successional dynamics of yellow pine stands in the Central Appalachian Mountains, which encompass parts of the Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, and Appalachian Plateaus. We will conduct our work on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests and the Shenandoah National Park. Appalachian yellow pine stands, which are dominated by Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens Lamb.) and pitch pine (P. rigida Mill.), typically occupy xeric sites. Regeneration and maintenance of the pines appear to require repeated surface fire, and occasional stand-initiating fires of greater severity. Fire exclusion appears to be preventing the establishment and maintenance of pines. Table Mountain pine, an Appalachian endemic, may largely disappear over time in the continued absence of burning. Deterioration of Appalachian pine stands has stimulated interest in the use of prescribed burning, both to regenerate pines and to reduce hazardous fuel loads, but little research on Appalachian fire regimes is available to guide fire-restoration. We will use dendrochronological techniques to date fire scars and assess the frequency, seasonality, spatial extent, and climatic relations of past fires. Age structure analysis will reveal whether pulses of regeneration have occurred, whether the pulses were associated with fire, and whether pine stands are being maintained. We will use an individual-based forest gap model to evaluate hypotheses about disturbance regimes under which the pine stands developed and to predict likely consequences of reintroducing fire. We envision that the results of our study will help fill local knowledge gaps significant to fire management plan development and implementation (Task 3, JFSP RFP 200 1-3). We anticipate this information being used by land managers in developing guidelines and policies consistent with restoration of fire as an ecosystem process.

Principal Investigator: Henri D. Grissino-Mayer

Agency/Organization: University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Branch or Dept: Department of Geography

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	Charles W. Lafon	Texas A&M University-College Station	Department of Geography
Collaborator/Contributor	Steven Q. Croy	Forest Service	George Washington & Jefferson National Forests
Collaborator/Contributor	Douglas G. Raeburn	NPS-National Park Service	Shenandoah National Park
Federal Cooperator	Elaine K. Sutherland	Forest Service	RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula

Project Locations

Consortium

Appalachian

There are no project locations identified for this project.

Project Deliverables

Final Report ("Results presented in JFSP Final Reports may not have been peer-reviewed and should be interpreted as tentative until published in a peer-reviewed source.")

	ID	Type	Title
	7176	Refereed Publication	Spatial Patterns of Fire Occurrence in the Central Appalachian Mountains and Implications for Wildland Fire Management
	8003	Refereed Publication	Fire History of a Temperate Forest with an Endemic Fire-Dependent Herb
	4602	Refereed Publication	The Contemporary Fire Regime of the Central Appalachian Mountains and its Relation to Climate
	1578	Refereed Publication	Spatial Patterns of Fire Occurance in the Central Appalachian Mountains and Implications for Wildland Fire Management
	8347	Refereed Publication	Reconstructing Fire History: an Exercise in Dendrochronology
	8346	Refereed Publication	Three Centuries of Fire in Montane Pine-Oak Stands on a Temperate Forest Landscape
	8345	NonRefereed Publication	Pine Chronologies in Central Appalachian Forests: Fiery Implications
	4603	MS Thesis	Regression-Based Age Estimates of Yellow Pine (Pinus) Saplings, Jefferson National Forest, Virginia (M. Pfeffer)

Supporting Documents

The following supporting documents are available for this project.

Brief

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