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Author(s):
Andrew J. Larson, R. Travis Belote, C. Alina Cansler, Sean A. Parks, Matthew S. Dietz
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Hot Topic(s):
Topic(s):
Fire Effects
Ecological - First Order
Fire Intensity / Burn Severity
Ecological - Second Order
Vegetation
Fire & Wilderness
Fire Regime
Ecosystem(s):
Montane dry mixed-conifer forest, Ponderosa pine woodland/savanna

NRFSN number: 12018
FRAMES RCS number: 15642
Record updated:

Ecological systems often exhibit resilient states that are maintained through negative feedbacks. In ponderosa pine forests, fire historically represented the negative feedback mechanism that maintained ecosystem resilience; fire exclusion reduced that resilience, predisposing the transition to an alternative ecosystem state upon reintroduction of fire. We evaluated the effects of reintroduced frequent wildfire in unlogged, fire-excluded, ponderosa pine forest in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana, USA. Initial reintroduction of fire in 2003 reduced tree density and consumed surface fuels, but also stimulated establishment of a dense cohort of lodgepole pine, maintaining a trajectory toward an alternative state. Resumption of a frequent fire regime by a second fire in 2011 restored a low-density forest dominated by large-diameter ponderosa pine by eliminating many regenerating lodgepole pines and by continuing to remove surface fuels and small-diameter lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir that established during the fire suppression era. Our data demonstrate that some unlogged, fire-excluded, ponderosa pine forests possess latent resilience to reintroduced fire. A passive model of simply allowing lightning-ignited fires to burn appears to be a viable approach to restoration of such forests.

Citation

Larson, Andrew J.; Belote, R. Travis; Cansler, C. Alina; Parks, Sean A.; Dietz, Matthew S. 2013. Latent resilience in ponderosa pine forest: effects of resumed frequent fire. Ecological Applications. 23(6): 1243-1249.