Late Holocene Fire History Reconstruction from Beaver Lake in the Northwest Lowlands of The Olympic Peninsula
Document Type
Poster
Event Website
https://source2022.sched.com/
Start Date
16-5-2022
End Date
16-5-2022
Keywords
Fire, Paleoenvironment, Olympic Peninsula
Abstract
Fire is an important component of the landscapes and forests of the PNW, including the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula in northwest corner of Washington State. Previous studies in other areas of the peninsula show that past fire activity has varied locally and regionally as a result of changes in vegetation, climate, and human-land use activities since the early Holocene. The reconstruction of a late Holocene fire history record from the Beaver Lake watershed will provide a high resolution record in the currently understudied northwest section of the peninsula. This study uses macroscopic charcoal analysis of a 6.17 meter-long lake sediment core to illustrate how fire activity has varied at the site during the past 3400 years. The results of this study will be compared to local and regional records of changing vegetation, climate, and human-land use activities to provide a more complete understanding of the environmental history of the Olympic Peninsula during the late Holocene. Preliminary results show that fire has been present at Beaver Lake for at least the past 500 years in varying amounts, and continued research on the sediment core aims to pinpoint more specific shifts in fire activity. Land managers, archaeologists, and other researchers can use this data to better understand human-environment interactions in the case of fire on the peninsula.
Recommended Citation
McKenney, Grace, "Late Holocene Fire History Reconstruction from Beaver Lake in the Northwest Lowlands of The Olympic Peninsula" (2022). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 74.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2022/COTS/74
Department/Program
Cultural & Environmental Resource Management
Additional Mentoring Department
Geography
Additional Mentoring Department
Cultural & Environmental Resource Management
Additional Mentoring Department
Graduate Studies
Poster
Late Holocene Fire History Reconstruction from Beaver Lake in the Northwest Lowlands of The Olympic Peninsula
Fire is an important component of the landscapes and forests of the PNW, including the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula in northwest corner of Washington State. Previous studies in other areas of the peninsula show that past fire activity has varied locally and regionally as a result of changes in vegetation, climate, and human-land use activities since the early Holocene. The reconstruction of a late Holocene fire history record from the Beaver Lake watershed will provide a high resolution record in the currently understudied northwest section of the peninsula. This study uses macroscopic charcoal analysis of a 6.17 meter-long lake sediment core to illustrate how fire activity has varied at the site during the past 3400 years. The results of this study will be compared to local and regional records of changing vegetation, climate, and human-land use activities to provide a more complete understanding of the environmental history of the Olympic Peninsula during the late Holocene. Preliminary results show that fire has been present at Beaver Lake for at least the past 500 years in varying amounts, and continued research on the sediment core aims to pinpoint more specific shifts in fire activity. Land managers, archaeologists, and other researchers can use this data to better understand human-environment interactions in the case of fire on the peninsula.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2022/COTS/74
Faculty Mentor(s)
Megan Walsh