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Wildland Fire Disturbance - Recovery Dynamics in Upland Forests at Acadia National Park, Maine

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Wildland Fire Disturbance - Recovery Dynamics in Upland Forests at Acadia National Park, Maine Antioch University AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive Student & Alumni Scholarship, including Dissertations & Theses Dissertations & Theses 2020 Wildland Fire Disturbance - Recovery Dynamics in Upland Forests at Acadia National Park, Maine Jessica E. Charpentier Follow this and additional works at: https://aura.antioch.edu/etds Part of the Environmental Studies Commons, and the Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons Department of Environmental Studies DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PAGE The undersigned have examined the dissertation titled: Wildland Fire Disturbance - Recovery Dynamics in Upland Forests at Acadia National Park, Maine presented by Jessica E. Charpentier, candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Studies and hereby certify that it is accepted. * Committee Chair: Peter A. Palmiotto, D.F. Chair, Department of Environmental Studies, Antioch University New England Committee Member: William A. Patterson III, Ph.D. Emeritus Professor of Forestry, University of Massachusetts Committee Member: Rachel K. Thiet, Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Studies, Antioch University New England Defense Date: December 4, 2019 Date Approved by All Committee Members: December 4, 2019 Date Deposited: May 15, 2020 *Signatures are on file with the Registrar’s Office at Antioch University New England. Wildland Fire Disturbance - Recovery Dynamics in Upland Forests at Acadia National Park, Maine by Jessica E. Charpentier A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England Keene, New Hampshire 2020 © 2020 by Jessica E. Charpentier All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to Dr. Peter Palmiotto for his immense insight and support that made this dissertation possible. Thank you to Dr. Bill Patterson for his fire ecology expertise and long-term dataset for which I was able to build upon. Thank you to Dr. Rachel Thiet for her encouragement and guidance throughout the process. Thank you to Dr. Lisabeth Willey for her data analysis assistance. Thank you to the National Park Service for their financial support and participation. Especially thanks to Anthony Davis and Andrew Ruth at the Northeast Region - Fire Management Program who were instrumental in assisting with the research. I am grateful to the Antioch University New England community for the support, including my fellow students, the Environmental Studies Department faculty, and the campus’ staff and administration. I would also like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to my family. To my parents, with more appreciation than I can express in words, thank you for a lifetime of support. Thank you to my brother, Jason, my best friend who always gives the perspective of patience and strength. And thank you to my dear friends who recharged my energy and kept me going - especially Jen, Emily, Amy, and Lindsay. i ABSTRACT The overall goal of this study was to evaluate whether coastal Maine (USA) forests are resilient to changing climate and fire regimes. The occurrence of a catastrophic wildfire at Acadia National Park (ANP) in 1947 provided a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of wildfire on forest dynamics in upland communities of coastal spruce-fir and northern hardwood forests of the Maine coast. This study, conducted 68 years after the stand-replacing 1947 Bar Harbor Fire, builds on studies by W.A. Patterson conducted in 1980 and 1992-1994, 33 and 45-47 years after the fire. There were two lines of investigation in this study: vegetation change following a large-scale, stand-replacing wildfire; and an assessment of wildfire risk following a long period with no major disturbance. In 2016 I quantified and characterized stand and site characteristics including: basal area and stem density of woody species; aboveground biomass and necromass of trees, saplings, and shrubs; dead downed woody fuel loads; duff depth; fuel height; soil depth to bedrock, and canopy closure for 23 stands throughout ANP. To evaluate long-term trends in post-fire recovery, I compared 2016 forest composition, structure and fuel loading data with that in 1980 and 1992-94. I mapped current wildfire risk to aid managers in identifying where mitigation practices would be most effective in reducing fire risk. I used an ArcGIS model that extends field data of current fuel conditions and spatially portrays wildfire risk across the landscape. Mixed effects models were used to determine the best remotely sensed numeric biomass data as a predictor of biomass and necromass measured on the ground. Widespread regeneration of red spruce following the initial establishment of aspen and birch suggests that forests of ANP are resilient to wildfire. Stands that did not burn in 1947 ii remain as mature-to-overmature spruce and fir. Biomass and necromass is continuting to accumulate. Fuel loads are generally high to very high outside the 1947 fire boundary. Within the fire boundary, fuel loads are primarily low to moderate, with small areas of high to very high risk due to topography (e.g., steep versus shallow slopes, north versus south aspect) and unique species composition (e.g., maturing pitch pine/heath communities). After 70 years, replacement of aspen and birch by spruce and fir in many stands suggests potentially increasing wildfire risk within the 1947 fire boundary. Mount Desert Island has and will continue to experience a marked increase in human development and visitation, thereby increasing the likelihood of human-caused ignitions. This, coupled with increasing fuel loads, may significantly increase the likelihood of wildfire occurrence. An uncertain climate future may exacerbate potential wildfire risk. Should climate warm substantially, spruce-fir stands may break up prematurely – significantly increasing dead, downed fuel for a period of time. Fire management programs should plan to operate strategically and efficiently to meet this challenge. Keywords: fire ecology, disturbance ecology, forest succession, resilience This dissertation is available in open access at the Antioch University Repository and Archive (AURA), http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................. I ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................................... II LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................................. VI LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................................... XII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW: FOREST RESILIENCY, FIRE AND CLIMATE ............................................... 5 DISTURBANCE, RECOVERY, AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES .......................................................................................... 5 HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF FIRE REGIMES AND CLIMATE ........................................................................................ 15 CHAPTER 3: METHODS: MEASURING FOREST COMPOSITION, STRUCTURE AND FUEL LOADS ................. 23 SITE DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................................................................ 23 HISTORIC FOREST RESEARCH AT ANP .............................................................................................................. 30 2016 DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................................................... 31 DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER 4: ACADIA NATIONAL PARK FOREST CONDITION AND LONG-TERM SUCCESSIONAL TRENDS ... 36 RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................................... 39 Red Oak (n=1) ...................................................................................................................................... 39 Mixed Conifer (n=1) ............................................................................................................................. 52 Birch-Aspen (n=2) ................................................................................................................................ 55 Northern Hardwoods (n=2) ................................................................................................................. 60 Pitch Pine (n=2) ................................................................................................................................... 66 Northern White Cedar (n=2) ............................................................................................................... 71 Mixed Hardwood-Conifer (n=4) .......................................................................................................... 78 Mixed Hardwood-Conifer Summary .................................................................................................... 87 Spruce-Fir (n=9)
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