TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, AND PATTERNS OF PAST FIRE, SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS, CALIFORNIA

CAPRIO, A.C.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, 47050 Generals Highway, Three Rivers, CA 93271

Fire history is being sampled using a network of sites located throughout coniferous forest in the East Fork of the Kaweah River. This drainage, located on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, trends east-west with strong north versus south aspects and dramatic elevation changes over short gradients. Vegetation is diverse with a variety of coniferous forest associations on mid-to-upper slopes. The fire event record is being used to reconstruct spatial and temporal patterns of past fire regimes across this complex landscape. Influences of topography and past climate are being examined. The network of 141 sites permits resolution of some attributes of pre-EuroAmerican settlement fire regimes not possible using a few scattered sites. Utilizing GIS, coarse scale estimates of annual area burned and patterns of burns across the landscape are being made. Results indicate considerable spatial heterogeneity in fire frequency and size associated with location in the watershed. Strong differences exist between north and south aspects, particularly at low-to-mid elevations. Differences are less striking at higher elevations. In lower south aspect coniferous forest, fire occurrence was varied with many years exhibiting small fires and a moderate number of years with fire across much of the aspect. In contrast, on the north aspect the fire record indicated infrequent small fires but was punctuated by unusual years when large fires burned across much of the aspect or across most of the drainage. These patterns are linked to annual climatic conditions with large fires generally associated with dry years. The results are being compared to arrays of sites in other watersheds.