Date of Award

2007

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Awarded

Master of Science (MS)

Program

Natural Resources Management

College

Interdisciplinary Studies

Faculty Advisor

Zeleznik, Joseph D.

Description

A study on the fire history of the ponderosa pine (Pi nus ponderosa P. & C. Lawson) forest in northern Slope County, North Dakota, was completed. The objectives of this study were to determine the pre- and post-settlement fire history of this location and to relate that fire history to topography. Samples were collected in 2005-2007 and analyzed using standard dendrochronological techniques. Three data-reduction methods and three calculation techniques were used to determine fire intervals (Fis). Method 1 assumed that all scars were created by fire; Method 2 required 10% or 20% of samples to have scars in a given year; Method 3 attempted to use visual cues to separate fire-caused scars from those created by other agents. The calculation techniques determined the FI for each tree individually, 1) utilizing or 2) not utilizing the origin-to-scar (OS) interval, followed by averaging all samples, or 3) compositing all samples before calculating the FI. Results of this study varied, depending on data-reduction method and calculation technique. The most realistic results were obtained with Method 2 utilizing the 10% criterion. With this method, the pre- and post-settlement Fis are 28.5 and 52 years, respectively. Composite calculations in Methods I and 3 showed low Fis; utilizing individual Fis with the OS interval showed overly large estimates of the FI. When conservative Method 2 was utilized, the average age of a ponderosa pine when the first fire scar was recorded is 58 years. Fires in 1882 and 1893 traveled the farthest distances, 2893 and 3276 meters, respectively.

Rights

NDSU policy 190.6.2

Rights Link

https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

Handle Identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/10365/33222

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