Fire in the Sierra Nevada
نویسندگان
چکیده
Fire has been described as both a major ecological force necessary for long-term functioning of Sierra Nevada ecosystems and as one of the greatest threats to human and natural resources (SNEP 1996a). Fire has shaped the terrestrial ecosystems of the Sierra Nevada for millennia. Before the mid-1800s, fires generally were frequent and mostly of low to moderate intensity, from lower-elevation blue oak woodlands through upper-montane red fir forests (Skinner and Chang 1996). Modern fire regimes are highly altered from their historical character because of the combined effects of fire exclusion, logging, grazing, forest clearing, urbanization, and climate change. These highly altered fire regimes have fostered changing ecosystems, including commonly discussed increases in vegetation density and accumulation of detritus (fuel for fires) that support more high-intensity fires than occurred under historical conditions (Chang 1996; McKelvey and Busse 1996; McKelvey and others 1996; Skinner and Chang 1996).
منابع مشابه
Fire and Fire Surrogate Study in the Sierra Nevada: Evaluating Restoration Treatments at Blodgett Forest and Sequoia National Park
Management practices have altered both the structure and function of forests throughout the United States. Some of the most dramatic changes have resulted from fire exclusion, especially in forests that historically experienced relatively frequent, lowto moderateintensity fire regimes. In the Sierra Nevada, fire exclusion is believed to have resulted in widespread vegetation changes, including ...
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A critical question in the Sierra Nevada concerns how to use disturbance effectively to restore forest ecosystems after nearly a century of fire suppression. With increases in stem densities and ladder fuels, many forests require a combination of stand thinning and controlled burning to mimic natural fire intensity. In spite of their widespread use, the different effects of fire and thinning on...
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In the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade ranges of California and Oregon, a genetically distinct population of the black-backed woodpecker has become rare due, in part, to fire suppression. This species is considered an indicator species for its primary habitat: early successional burned forests with an abundance of standing dead trees. Fuel reduction treatments such as post-fire logging, and ...
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NAGEL, T. A. AND A. H. TAYLOR (Department of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, 302 Walker Building, University Park, PA 16802). Fire and persistence of montane chaparral in mixed conifer forest landscapes in the northern Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe Basin, California J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 132: 442–457. 2005.— Tree cover in the mixed conifer zone in the Sierra Nevada is often interrupted ...
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The Pacific fisher (Martes pennanti) is a rare forest carnivore strongly associated with dense, old forest with high canopy cover for denning and resting. The Sierra Nevada population is very small, genetically distinct, and isolated. Mixed-severity wildland fire is assumed to be a potentially greater threat than logging, and land managers are conducting large-scale forest thinning operations u...
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