The Pennsylvania State University
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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School UNDERSTANDING TRAJECTORIES OF LANDSCAPE CHANGE: THE RESPONSES OF A ROCKY MOUNTAIN FOREST-SAGEBRUSH-GRASSLAND LANDSCAPE TO FIRE SUPPRESSION, LIVESTOCK GRAZING, AND CLIMATE A Dissertation in Geography by Catherine T. Lauvaux © 2019 Catherine T. Lauvaux Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2019 The dissertation of Catherine T. Lauvaux was reviewed and approved* by the following: Alan H. Taylor Professor of Geography Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Andrew M. Carleton Professor of Geography Erica A.H. Smithwick Professor of Geography Margot Wilkinson Kaye Associate Professor of Forest Ecology Cynthia Ann Brewer Head of the Department of Geography *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT Naturally functioning forest ecosystems have been called gemstones of the Rocky Mountain landscape, and yet, since Euro-American settlement, these forests have been altered by land-use, fire suppression, extreme wildfires, and climate change. Understanding the changes is limited by lack of information about historical conditions. Knowledge of pre-settlement vegetation patterns and disturbance processes may also be useful in predicting and mitigating future ecological impacts. This study uses repeat aerial photography, fire-scar dendrochronology, tree population age structure, and grazing reports to determine fire history and land-use history and the characteristics, timing, and drivers of vegetation change in a forest-sagebrush-grassland mosaic in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho. Fire frequency before 1900 was greater in low-elevation Douglas-fir forests than high- elevation whitebark pine forests (mean interval of 31(±28.8) years vs 66 (±34.4) years). Climate was a driver of widespread fires as evidenced by fires burning across multiple forest types during extremely dry years. Pre-settlement fires created a heterogeneous forest structure of even-aged, high severity stands and uneven-aged, low to moderate severity stands across the landscape. Livestock grazing, climate variation, and recent fires have altered vegetation patterns in several ways. In sagebrush-grasslands, tree encroachment peaked in the 1960s following a steep decline in sheep grazing and a period with cool, wet summers. In whitebark pine forests, regeneration declined after fire suppression in the early 1900s. Then, in the late 2000s, many whitebark succumbed to combined drought related stress and beetle attack. In contrast to pre- settlement patterns of mixed severity fire effects, a 2013 wildfire had predominately high severity effects in Douglas-fir forests, potentially erasing heterogeneity in the forest and indicating that restoring the historical forest structure may be time sensitive. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... x Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1 References .............................................................................................................. 10 Chapter 2 Fire history across a Douglas-fir and subalpine fir forest landscape ....................... 13 Chapter 2 References .............................................................................................................. 42 Chapter 3 Tree encroachment into sagebrush-grassland and relationships to climate and livestock grazing history .................................................................................................. 64 Chapter 3 References .............................................................................................................. 89 Chapter 4 The influence of fire and climate on whitebark pine establishment and mortality and subalpine fir invasion ................................................................................. 99 Chapter 4 References .............................................................................................................. 123 Chapter 5 Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 142 Chapter 5 References .............................................................................................................. 146 APPENDIX .............................................................................................................................. 147 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1: Overview of the locations of variable size age structure sampling plots across 4 vegetation types in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho. ........................................................ 7 Figure 1-2: Topographic map showing the location of the age structure sampling plots in 4 vegetation types in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho ......................................................... 8 Figure 1-3: Photographs of the study site in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho to show landscape views ............................................................................................................... 9 Figure 1-4: Photographs of the study site in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho to show stand level views ....................................................................................................................... 9 Figure 2-1: Douglas-fir master ring-width chronology for 1383 to 2016, Soldier Mountains, Idaho.. ........................................................................................................... 51 Figure 2-2A: Pearson correlations and response function coefficients for Douglas-fir in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho. Monthly climatic means are from Western Region Climate Center. ................................................................................................................ 52 Figure 2-2B: Pearson correlations and response funciton coefficients for Douglas-fir in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho. Monthly climatic means are from Fairfield,Idaho weather station. ................................................................................................................ 53 Figure 2-3: Sample and composite fire history for Douglas-fir forest in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho. ............................................................................................................ 54 Figure 2-4: Sample and composite fire history for subalpine fir forest in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho ............................................................................................................. 55 Figure 2-5: Map of fire scarred tree sample locations and minimum extent of fires recorded at single and multiple sites in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho.. .................................. 56 Figure 2-6: Superposed epoch analysis of all fire years and large fire years in the Douglas-fir forest Soldier Mountains, Idaho and A. tree-ring reconstructed Palmer Drought Severity Index (Cook et al., 1999), B. El Nino Southern Oscillation NINO3 (Cook, 2000), C. Pacific Decadal Oscillation (D’Arrigo, 2005) D. Pacific North America (Liu et al 2017) for the period (1700–1900).. .................................................... 57 Figure 2-7: Age distributions in 10-year bins for Douglas-fir forest in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho at A. low <1900m B. middle mid >1900m and <2100m and C. high >2100m elevations ................................................................................................... .59-60 Figure 2-8: Mean number of trees per hectare in 10-year bins from 1610 to 1970 based on all plots for Douglas-fir and for Subalpine fir, Soldier Mountains, Idaho.. ..................... 61 vi Figure 2-9: Aerial photograph showing the texture of four age structure plots and corresponding tree age distribution, Soldier Mountains, Idaho ....................................... 62 Figure 2-10: Proportions of Douglas-fir forest with textures indicating low, moderate, and high fire severity effects prior to 20th century fire suppression, Soldier Mountains, Idaho. ............................................................................................................ 63 Figure 2-11: Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity 5 class severity map for the Kelley Fire (2013) in the Sawtooth National Forest Soldier Mountains, Idaho,. ................................ 64 Figure 3-1: A. 1939 geo-referenced aerial photograph B. 2013 digital ortho-quad photograph of the same location in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho. .................................. 95 Figure 3-2: Mean number of trees establishing in open vegetation per hecatre for each 5- year period from 1890 to 1995 and number of sheep grazing in the Salt Bowns allotment in the Soldier Mountains, Idaho ....................................................................... 96 Figure 3-3: Number of sheep grazed each year on the Sawtooth National Forest and Fairfield Ranger District, Idaho. ...................................................................................... 97 Figure 3-4: Pentadal variation of A. annual, B.spring and C. summer and D.winter temperature (red) and precipitation (blue) from 1890-2005 for the Soldier Mountains in the Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho.. .........................................................................