noaa-fire-18896 Tepley fire data from Williams Creek, southwestern Colorado, IMPD USWCR001 Tepley, A.,J.; Veblen, T.T. Tepley fire data from Williams Creek, southwestern Colorado, IMPD USWCR001 2015-06-17 NCDC-Paleoclimatology ONLINE Files Pending https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/18896 Investigator A.,J. Tepley Investigator T.T. Veblen earth science paleoclimate fire history|tree ring tree demographic and injury and fire event code,wood,null,null,null,fire history|tree ring,null,null,C,FHX2 data format; refer to IMPD documentation for description of codes earth science paleoclimate fire history|tree ring age,null,null,null,null,fire history|tree ring,null,null,N,null earth science paleoclimate fire history fire scar dates geoscientificInformation PIPO Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex C. Lawson ponderosa pine western yellow pine PPTR Populus tremuloides Michx. quaking aspen ABCO Abies concolor (Gordon) Lindl. ex Hildebr. white fir PSME Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco Douglas-fir 1459 AD 2013 AD 491 cal yr BP -63 cal yr BP Complete 37.526443 37.526443 -107.235773 -107.235773 2698 2698 Continent North America United States Of America Colorado Williams Creek>LATITUDE 37.526443>LONGITUDE -107.235773 None Please cite original publication, online resource, dataset and publication DOIs (where available), and date accessed when using downloaded data. If there is no publication information, please cite investigator, title, online resource, and date accessed. The appearance of external links associated with a dataset does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of external Web sites or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities, the Department of Commerce/NOAA does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. These links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this Department of Commerce/NOAA Web site. English DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data DATA Center Contact Bruce Bauer bruce.a.bauer@noaa.gov paleo@noaa.gov 303-497-6280 303-497-6513

325 Broadway, E/NE31

Boulder CO 80305-3328 USA online ASCII Tepley, Alan, J.;Veblen,Thomas,T.; 2015 Ecological Monographs 10.1890/14-1496.1

Mixed-severity fire regimes may be the most extensive yet poorly understood fire regimes of western North America. Understanding their long-term spatiotemporal dynamics is central to debates regarding altered fire regimes and the need for restoration in the context of changing climate and nearly a century of active fire suppression. However, the complexity of fire patterns and forest stand and landscape structures characteristic of mixed-severity regimes poses a substantial challenge to understanding their long-term dynamics. In this study, we develop analysis methods aimed at understanding the fire-driven forest dynamics of mixed-severity systems and apply them in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. We sampled fire scars, stand structure, and >4,300 tree ages across two 1,340-ha landscapes (Williams Creek and Squaretop Mountain) that span the environmental gradient of montane mixed-conifer and aspen forests. New approaches were applied to identify pulses of tree recruitment, evaluate climate and fire as potential drivers of synchronous recruitment pulses, and combine fire scar and recruitment data to reconstruct fires. The reconstructions provided detailed fire history for each stand, which in turn was used to develop a fire-severity metric, compare fire frequency and severity by forest type, and develop a simulation procedure to evaluate the degree to which tree regeneration depended on fire by species within each forest type. Twenty fires were reconstructed since 1685 at Williams Creek and 13 fires since 1748 at Squaretop Mountain. Patterns of fire severity varied within each fire and over successive events, including high-severity patches of 100s of ha in both study areas. Dry mixed-conifer forests experienced relatively short fire intervals (mean 21 years) and low fire severity, and regeneration of the main conifer species was largely dependent on open conditions sustained over successive fires. Moist mixed-conifer forests experienced longer fire intervals (mean 32 years) and a 3 broader range of severities, and fire-caused canopy openings were important for initiating pulses of tree recruitment. Most (83%) aspen stands included two or more post-fire cohorts. The methods presented here can be adapted to other mixed-severity systems to better understand their long-term spatial and temporal dynamics and develop restoration priorities. STUDY NOTES: The fire-scar dataset was collected as part of a study using fire scars and forest stand- and age-structure data to reconstruct the fire history and fire-driven forest dynamics across the gradient from dry to moist mixed-conifer and aspen forests in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. The Williams Creek study area is 1,330 ha located west of the Williams Creek Reservoir, approximately 33 km northwest of Pagosa Springs (within the Pagosa Ranger District of the San Juan National Forest). Sampling of forest stand- and age-structure data was conducted in 33 contiguous stands across the study area. Fire scars were collected by searching while hiking to and from each transect, searching the area around each transect, and by making additional trips at the end of the field season to help fill spatial gaps in the dataset. Scars were sampled preferentially from dead trees, but live trees were also sampled to better represent recent fires and to provide a fire record in stands where ponderosa pine was absent and scars were poorly preserved on dead stems of the more rapidly decaying species. Ponderosa pine accounts for 66% the samples. The remaining samples are from white fir (28%) Douglas-fir (5%) and aspen (1%) The fire-scar data were analyzed along with the age-structure data to reconstruct the extent and severity of each major fire event since the late 17th century. Lowest elevation: 2522 meters, Highest elevation: 3054 meters. Individual sample information is located at: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/supplemental/uswcr001-individual-sample-information.csv . Alan J. Tepley (Alan.Tepley@Colorado.edu or tepleya@gmail.com).

GET DATA https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/uswcr001.txt More Information; uswcr001.txt GET DATA https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/supplemental/uswcr001-individual-tree-information.csv Supplemental Data; uswcr001-individual-tree-information.csv GET DATA https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/uswcr001.fhx Fire Scar Data; uswcr001.fhx GET DATA https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/fire-hist-graphs/uswcr001-fire-hist-graph.png Fire History Graph; uswcr001-fire-hist-graph.png GET DATA https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/fire-hist-graphs/uswcr001-fire-hist-graph.pdf Fire History Graph; uswcr001-fire-hist-graph.pdf USA/NOAA DIF Version 9.8.4 2018-12-11 2018-12-11