Holocene Fire Reconstruction of the Long Lake Watershed Near Rimrock Reservoir in the Eastern Cascades, Washington

Presenter Information

Zoe Rushton
Megan Walsh

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Campus where you would like to present

SURC Ballroom B/C/D

Start Date

21-5-2015

End Date

21-5-2015

Keywords

Holocene, Paleoecology, Fire History

Abstract

Many of the forests in the Long Lake watershed (LLW) have been subjected to twentieth century fire suppression and various other timber practices that have resulted in dense forest stands, leading to disease and pest outbreaks, and are at risk of large fire events. A more thorough understanding of past fire frequency in the LLW will aid land owners and forest managers in planning for future fire events. In the summer of 2014, a nine meter long sediment core was extracted from Long Lake, which is located approximately 5 km southeast of Rimrock Reservoir and 45 km west of Yakima. Fire event frequency was determined using macroscopic charcoal analysis, which quantifies the changing abundance of charcoal particles >125 μm taken at contiguous 1 cm intervals throughout the core. Past fire severity is indicated by the ratio of woody to herbaceous charcoal, which was visually determined for each charcoal particle. Preliminary charcoal results show frequent fire episodes for approximately the last 9,000 years, with a noticeable decrease in fire occurrence in recent centuries.

Poster Number

36

Faculty Mentor(s)

Megan Walsh

Department/Program

Resource Management

Additional Mentoring Department

Resource Management

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May 21st, 11:30 AM May 21st, 2:00 PM

Holocene Fire Reconstruction of the Long Lake Watershed Near Rimrock Reservoir in the Eastern Cascades, Washington

SURC Ballroom B/C/D

Many of the forests in the Long Lake watershed (LLW) have been subjected to twentieth century fire suppression and various other timber practices that have resulted in dense forest stands, leading to disease and pest outbreaks, and are at risk of large fire events. A more thorough understanding of past fire frequency in the LLW will aid land owners and forest managers in planning for future fire events. In the summer of 2014, a nine meter long sediment core was extracted from Long Lake, which is located approximately 5 km southeast of Rimrock Reservoir and 45 km west of Yakima. Fire event frequency was determined using macroscopic charcoal analysis, which quantifies the changing abundance of charcoal particles >125 μm taken at contiguous 1 cm intervals throughout the core. Past fire severity is indicated by the ratio of woody to herbaceous charcoal, which was visually determined for each charcoal particle. Preliminary charcoal results show frequent fire episodes for approximately the last 9,000 years, with a noticeable decrease in fire occurrence in recent centuries.