Tree Mortality Analysis of Giant Sequoia Groves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park

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Tree Mortality Analysis of Giant Sequoia Groves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park TREE MORTALITY ANALYSIS OF GIANT SEQUOIA GROVES IN SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARK Item Type Electronic Report; text Authors Youngstrum, Gavin Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 07/10/2021 13:22:03 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/661332 TREE MORTALITY ANALYSIS OF GIANT SEQUOIA GROVES IN SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARK By GAVIN YOUNGSTRUM MASTER OF SCIENCE GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY FINAL PROJECT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2021 To Norma Youngstrum, you were a terrific Grandmother. And to trees, thanks for the oxygen. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to Paul Hardwick, Sequoia National Park, the Leaf to Landscape Project and the University of Arizona. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 3 LIST OF FIGURES 5 ABSTRACT 8 ETHICS STATEMENT 9 INTRODUCTION 10 METHODS 18 Data 18 Methodology 19 Limitations 27 Quadrat count method 28 Point Density and Kernel Density 29 Heat maps 30 Optimized Hot Spot Analysis 30 Average Nearest Neighbor 31 Fires 32 RESULTS 33 Quadrat Count Method 33 Middle Fork Watershed 34 Marble Fork Watershed 38 North Fork Watershed 41 Dry Creek Watershed 44 Mill Creek Watershed 47 Mill Flat Watershed 50 Sequoia Groves 54 Giant Forest 55 Suwanne Grove 56 Lost, Muir, Pine Ridge and Skagway sequoia groves 57 Redwood Mountain Grove 58 Big stump and Sequoia Creek Groves 59 Grant Grove 60 Average nearest neighbor 61 Fire History 61 CONCLUSION 67 LIST OF REFERENCES 69 4 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page Figure 1-1. Map of both parks with all sequoia groves and the north box study area. 14 Figure 1-2. Close up of figure 1-1. 15 Figure 2-1. Map of watershed boundaries that overlap the study area. 21 Figure 2-2. Map of watersheds boundaries clipped to the study area. 22 Figure 2-3. Dead tree points in the study area. 23 Figure 2-4. Maps of dead tree points by watershed they are located in. 24 Figure 2-5. The Giant Forest Grove with a 0.5-mile buffer 25 Figure 2-6. Dead trees within a 0.5-mile buffer of the Giant Forest grove. 26 Figure 2-7. Getis-Ord Gi* statistic courtesy of the ESRI website 31 Figure 3-1. Results of the quadrat count method 33 Figure 3-2. The Middle Fork inside the study area. 35 Figure 3-3. Kernel density of the Middle Fork watershed. 36 Figure 3-4. Point density of the Middle Fork watershed. 36 Figure 3-5. Heat map of the Middle Fork watershed. 37 Figure 3-6. Optimized Hot Spot analysis of the Middle Fork watershed. 37 Figure 3-7. The Marble Fork inside the study area. 38 Figure 3-8. Kernel Density of the Marble Fork watershed. 39 Figure 3-9. Point Density of the Marble Fork watershed. 39 Figure 3-10. Heat map of the Marble Fork watershed. 40 Figure 3-11. Optimized Hot Spot analysis of the Marble Fork watershed. 40 Figure 3-12. The north fork inside the study area. 41 Figure 3-13. Kernel density of the North Fork watershed. 42 5 Figure 3-14. Point density of the North Fork watershed. 42 Figure 3-15. Heat map of North Fork watershed. 43 Figure 3-16. Optimized hot spot of the North Fork Watershed. 43 Figure 3-17. Dry creek watershed inside the study area. 44 Figure 3-18. Kernel density of the Dry Creek watershed. 45 Figure 3-19. Point Density of the dry creek watershed. 45 Figure 3-20. Heat map of the dry creek watershed. 46 Figure 3-21. Optimized hot spot analysis of the dry creek watershed. 46 Figure 3-22. Mill Creek in the study area 47 Figure 3-23. Kernel Density of the Mill Creek watershed 48 Figure 3-24. Point density of the Mill Creek watershed 48 Figure 3-25. Heat map of the Mill Creek watershed. 49 Figure 3-26. Optimized hot spot analysis of the Mill Creek watershed. 49 Figure 3-27. Mill Flat watershed inside the study area. 50 Figure 3-28. Kernel Density of the Mill Flat watershed 51 Figure 3-29. Point density of the Mill Flat watershed 51 Figure 3-30. Heat map of the Mill Flat watershed 52 Figure 3-31. Optimized hot spot analysis of the Mill Flat watershed 52 Figure 3-32. Optimized hot spot analysis of the Mill Flat watershed 2015 53 Figure 3-33. Optimized hot spot analysis of the Mill Flat watershed 2016 53 Figure 3-34. Giant Forest Sequoia grove 2015 (Top) and 2016 (Bottom) hot spot analysis. 54 Figure 3-35. Suwanne Sequoia grove 2015 (Top) and 2016 (Bottom) hot spot analysis. 55 Figure 3-36. Lost, Muir, Pine Ridge, and Skagway sequoia groves 2015 Top) and 2016 (Bottom) hot spot analysis. Note that the lost grove is in the possible error zone. 56 6 Figure 3-37. Redwood Mountain Sequoia grove 2015 (Top) and 2016 (Bottom) hot spot analysis. 57 Figure 3-38. Big Stump and Sequoia Creek sequoia groves 2015 (Top) and 2016 (Bottom) hot spot analysis. 58 Figure 3-39. Grant Grove 2015 (Top) and 2016 (Bottom) hot spot analysis. 59 Figure 3-40. Results of the Average Nearest Neighbor 60 Figure 3-41. The rough fire (150,000 acres). 61 Figure 3-42. Portion of the Rough Fire that is in the study area. 62 Figure 3-43. Rough Fire zone heat map before fire. 63 Figure 3-44. Rough Fire zone heat map after fire. 64 Figure 3-45. All watershed Optimized Hot Spots together. 65 Figure 3-46. Fires in the study area by decade. 65 7 ABSTRACT California has been in a drought since the year 2000 and is now considered to be in a “megadrought” (Borunda, 2021). Dead and weak trees are susceptible to native bark beetles and as the drought continues to create more vulnerable trees, the bark beetle population has been increasing, causing more tree mortality (Rosner, 2020). Giant sequoia trees are the largest trees on Earth and live for thousands of years (“Giant Sequoias”, 2021). Scientists have not seen a severe increase in sequoia tree mortality due to the drought but have seen a “die-back” in their foliage and canopy loss caused by low water stress (“Leaf to Landscape”, 2016). Fire is an important part to the life cycle of giant sequoia trees, and they have been known to survive through many fires throughout their existence (“Giant Sequoias and Fire”, n.d.). However, with an increase in forest fire fuel from the drought, rising temperatures causing dryer tinder and many years of fire suppression, fires are getting unnaturally hotter and stronger, putting sequoia trees at risk (Fox, 2021). When scientists noticed their dying foliage and canopy loss, the Leaf to Landscape Project was created through partnership with multiple federal agencies and universities to study the giant sequoia tree's health (“Leaf to Landscape”, 2016). The project collected tree data by flying an aircraft over Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park using LiDAR technology (Nydick, 2018). My project utilizes the LiDAR data to analyze dead tree clusters and their proximity to giant sequoia groves using a variety of cluster finding techniques using ArcGIS Pro. Locating dead tree clusters will help assist with future fire planning for the protection of sequoia trees. 8 ETHICS STATEMENT For my project it is important that I report my findings accurately and to not alter or skew results to make the project more interesting. My project is based on issues caused by global climate change and scientific research on this subject is very important for the public since climate change is a serious issue and may affect our lives in a drastic way. Altering results could make the project look more interesting and keep in line with a hypothesis. This however could be very unethical since most readers will trust my results and if my information were proven false this would just add to the global climate change disbelief by some of the public. With the world becoming more and more skeptical of information, it is important that I don’t add to the issue of misinformation. The main purpose of my project is to locate and map large dead tree clusters. This project is not just a curious topic for me but was asked of me by Sequoia National Park. There is a chance that my findings will get passed along for further analysis. These clusters may be used to assist in fire prevention and prescribed fire planning and may also be used to help with tree mortality research. If I record wrong or misleading results, it could be problematic for many people’s research or planning. Since I am doing this project with the help of my employer, it would be ethical and in my best interest to not make Sequoia National Park look bad, considering they are the ones assisting me in this research project. It would also be unethical to publish or give out any data that the park deems sensitive or data that is for park employees only. Before giving out any information or names of people involved, I must make sure that I have consent from all who assisted me in this project. 9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Since the year 2000, California has suffered from severe drought due to climate change which has recently been categorized as a “megadrought” (Borunda, 2021).
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