RECONSTRUCTION A HOLOCENE FIRE HISTORY FROM A MIXED-CONIFER FOREST IN SOUTHWESTERN OREGON

BRILES, C.E.

Department of Geography, 1251 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403

Several methods have been developed to reconstruct fire history using lake sediment charcoal. The method used at the University of Oregon and Montana State University identifies charcoal peaks that relate to fire episodes from charcoal that is introduced to the sedimentary record during non-fire years (i.e., background charcoal). To illustrate the usefulness of these charcoal methods, the Bolan Lake charcoal record from southwestern Oregon will be used to demonstrate the decomposition process using CHAPS. In addition, parameter selection (i.e., window-widths and thresholds) to calculate background charcoal and identify charcoal peaks using modern fire regime information will be addressed. The graphical representation of the charcoal peak data as an inferred fire frequency will also be presented.  Finally, the fire and vegetation histories from Bolan Lake will be compared to demonstrate the potential outcomes of combining the two records.