AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Kenneth R. Carloni for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Forest Science presented on May 20, 2005 . Title: The Ecological Legacy of Indian Burning Practices in Southwestern Oregon Abstract Approved: ______________________________________________________ David A. Perry Two research questions are posed: (1) How have ecosystem conditions changed through time in southwestern Oregon? (2) How have culture-driven and climate-driven processes contributed to ecosystem change in southwestern Oregon? A brief introduction to the Little River study area is followed by a cultural and ecological history of the watershed. Historical, ecological and archaeological data are used to describe shifts in landscape structure, stand structure and fire behavior. Changes in corridor/patch/matrix relationships, increases in stand densities, and changes in stand age and species structure are documented, and changes in fire dynamics from frequent to infrequent, and small to large are corroborated with descriptive statistics from the nearby 2002 Umpqua Fires. Hypotheses are then proposed to test the relative influence of humans vs. climate on landscape change during Aboriginal (<1820) vs. Euro- agrarian (1850-1950) cultural phases. While precipitation shows no correlation with fire frequency or tree recruitment before 1820, significant associations are observed from 1850 to 1950. Moreover, a significant correlation exists between fire frequency and subsequent tree recruitment after 1850, but is not observed during aboriginal times. This suggests that indigenous management fires may have obscured precipitation influences that become apparent only after 1850. In order to test spatial hypotheses concerning the associations between indigenous humans and the landscape, archaeological sites were digitized into a GIS, and ergonomic pathways were modeled between them. These maps are then compared to historically fire-maintained upland meadows interpreted from 1946 aerial photos. A significant spatial correlation was found between archaeological sites and historic meadows, and a highly significant spatial correlation was found between modeled travel networks and historic meadows. The close spatial association between cultural features and fire-maintained habitats again suggests active landscape management by local Indians. These associations are corroborated with historical records. After summarizing the shifts in ecological conditions and describing current conditions, I argue that while restoring the landscape to aboriginal conditions is no longer possible, emulating those conditions within the framework of the Little River Adaptive Management Area Plan can improve the resilience and productivity of the Little River watershed. © Copyright by Kenneth R. Carloni May 20, 2005 All Rights Reserved The Ecological Legacy of Indian Burning Practices in Southwestern Oregon by Kenneth R. Carloni A DISSERTATION submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Presented May 20, 2005 Commencement June 2006 Doctor of Philosophy dissertation of Kenneth R. Carloni presented on May 20, 2005 . APPROVED: ______________________________________________________________ Major Professor, representing Forest Science ______________________________________________________________ Head of the Department of Forest Science ______________________________________________________________ Dean of the Graduate School I understand that my dissertation will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my dissertation to any reader upon request. ______________________________________________________________ Kenneth R. Carloni, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I offer my deepest thanks to Dave Perry for being mentor, role-model and friend throughout this 13 year-long journey. I’d also like to thank my other committee members: Boone Kauffman for introducing me to the science of fire, Dave Brauner for his insights into the life and times of southwest Oregon’s native peoples, and Steve Radosevich for inspiring me to think about humans and the land as socioecological systems. Special thanks are due Ron Doel for his unflagging enthusiasm and support, and for helping me to appreciate the value of history in understanding current environments. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the many fellow grad students who shared the ups and downs of student life, especially Brad and Tina Withrow-Robinson for a bed and a meal when I most needed them, Thais Perkins for the music and laughs, and Daniel Sarr and Nate McDowel for hanging tough down the stretch. Roy Keene, and Jerry Franklin were early sources of knowledge and inspiration that first got me thinking about this project in the early 1990s. I’d also like to recognize the federal agency folks who helped me obtain invaluable archaeological, historical and ecological data for reconstructing the ecological history of the Little River watershed: archaeologists Isaac and Debra Barner, Dennis O’Neil and Vance Carlson; ‘ologists Ray Davis, Diane White, and Jeff Dose; fire scientists Laura Ward and Kelli Van Norman; and GIS specialists Ed Hall and Dave Rupert. Fred Reenstjerna also helped me find some key pieces of the puzzle at the Douglas County Museum. I am grateful to the 1998 Umpqua Community College Board of directors for granting me professional development leave to finish my coursework in Corvallis, and especially to Dale Ritter, Susan Lester and the UCC Science Dept. for being so flexible in supporting my studies while I continued to teach. ii And of course none of this would have been possible without the love and support of my wife Jenny. I am eternally grateful for her willingness to put up with my long sojourns at the computer and with the financial strain of doing this project without any outside funding. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter 1 Introduction………………………………………………………... 1 Chapter 2 The Little River Watershed Through Time: Humans, Fire, and the Native Landscape……………………... 6 Chapter 3 Changes in the Historic Relationships Between Precipitation, Fire Frequency and Tree Regeneration in the Little River Watershed……………………………………. 58 Chapter 4 Humans, Fire and Forests: Modeling Aboriginal Land Management in the Little River Watershed……………………. 100 Chapter 5 Conclusions and Management Recommendations…….…….. 138 Bibliography ………………………………………………….….……………….. 165 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 2.1 The Little River Watershed in Geographic Context……………….. 11 2.2 Current Ownership Pattern of the Little River Watershed………… 12 2.3 Regional and Landscape Level Precipitation Reconstructions….. 15 2.4 Sources of Data for Ecological Reconstructions in the Little River Watershed………………………………………………… 18 2.5 Archaeological Evidence of Ancient Human Activity………………. 19 2.6 Typical Fire Scar Observed on a Douglas Fir Stump……………… 21 2.7 Relic Trees…………………………………………………………….. 22 2.8 Early Logging Technology. ………………………………………….. 26 2.9 1990 Landsat Image of the Little River Area………………………. 28 2.10 Umpqua Valley Landscape, Sept. 21, 1841……………………….. 29 2.11 1853 Gov’t. Land Office Survey Notes for a Township in the Northern Umpqua Valley…………………………………………….. 30 2.12 Umpqua Valley 1895 USGS Land Classification Map……………. 31 2.13 Fire Scars in an Oak Stump Cut at Ground Level in the Umpqua Valley……………………………………………………….. 32 2.14 Savanna In-filling, Umpqua Valley, 2003………………………….. 33 2.15 Upland Landscape in the Umpqua Mts., Sept. 23, 1841………… 34 2.16 Recently Burned Upland Ridgeline Trail, Sept. 22, 1841……….. 35 2.17 Interior Habitat and Seral Condition Changes in Little River……. 37 2.18 Shifting Forest Margins: 95 Years of Landscape Change in Western Little River………………………………………………….. 38 v LIST OF FIGURES (Continued) Figure Page 2.19 Earliest Aerial Photo and Recent Landsat Image from Willow Flats: The Two Extremes? ………………………………………………….. 40 2.20 Rephotography of the View East from the Historic Red Butte Lookout Into the Little River Drainage………………………………. 40 2.21 Three Little River Tree Recruitment Datasets……………………… 43 2.22 Stand Level Tree Recruitment and Fire Scar Frequency in Black Creek, Little River………………………………………………. 44 2.23 Landscape Level Fire Scar Data Little River……………………….. 45 2.24 Studies of Old Growth vs. Young Stand Densities in SW OR……. 47 2.25 Crowded Understory Vegetation Creates Highly Flammable Stands…………………………………………………………………... 49 2.26 Fire Intensity in Apple and Tiller Fires………………………………. 53 2.27 Mortality and Management, 2002 Tiller Complex………………….. 55 2.28 Fire Behavior, 2002 Apple Fire………………………………………. 56 3.1 Change in Fire Pattern or Sampling Bias?...................................... 61 3.2 Regional Fire Histories as Interpreted By Weisberg (1998)………. 64 3.3 Comparisons of Precipitation Index, Tree Recruitment and Fire Scar Data…………………………………………………………… 70 3.4 Precipitation vs. Percentage of Trees Scarred per Year…………… 73 3.5 Precipitation vs. Tree Origin Frequencies per Year………………… 76 3.6 Origins per Year vs. Percentage of Trees Scarred per Year………. 78 3.7 Autocorrelation Plots for Precipitation Index During the Aboriginal Phase vs. the Euro-agrarian Phase…………………………………… 80 vi LIST OF FIGURES (Continued) Figure Page 3.8 Autocorrelation Plots For %Trees Scarred Each Year During the Aboriginal Phase vs. the Euro-agrarian Phase…….………………. 81 3.9 Autocorrelation Plots For Tree Regeneration Frequency During the Aboriginal Phase vs. the Euro-agrarian Phase………………… 82 3.10 Historical Forest Fire Data for