Gartner fire data from PNF 4, Colorado Front Range - IMPD USMG-024 Gartner, M.H.; Sherriff, R.L.; Veblen, T.T.; Schoennagel, T.L. Gartner, M.H. Sherriff, R.L. Veblen, T.T. Schoennagel, T.L. PIPO Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex C. Lawson ponderosa pine western yellow pine PSME Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco Douglas-fir earth science/paleoclimate/fire history|tree ring (age,null,null,year Common Era,null,fire history|tree ring,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/fire history|tree ring (sample identification,null,null,dimensionless,null,fire history|tree ring,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/fire history|tree ring (tree demographic and injury and fire event code,wood,null,dimensionless,null,fire history|tree ring,null,null,C,text description of fire event; refer to IMPD documentation for description of codes) earth science/paleoclimate/fire history earth science/paleoclimate/fire history (PNF 4 - IMPD USMG-024>LATITUDE 39.331043>LONGITUDE -105.358939) Large recent fires in the western U.S. have contributed to a perception that fire exclusion has caused an unprecedented occurrence of uncharacteristically severe fires, particularly in lower elevation dry pine forests. In the absence of long-term fire severity records, it is unknown how short-term trends compare to fire severity prior to 20th century fire exclusion. This study compares historical (i.e. pre-1920) fire severity with observed modern fire severity and modeled potential fire behavior across 564,413 ha of montane forests of the Colorado Front Range. We used forest structure and tree-ring fire history to characterize fire severity at 232 sites and then modeled historical fire-severity across the entire study area using biophysical variables. Eighteen (7.8%) sites were characterized by low-severity fires and 214 (92.2%) by mixed-severity fires (i.e. including moderate- or high-severity fires). Difference in area of historical versus observed low-severity fire within nine recent (post-1999) large fire perimeters was greatest in lower montane forests. Only 16% of the study area recorded a shift from historical low severity to a higher potential for crown fire today. An historical fire regime of more frequent and low-severity fires at low elevations (,2260 m) supports a convergence of management goals of ecological restoration and fire hazard mitigation in those habitats. In contrast, at higher elevations mixed-severity fires were predominant historically and continue to be so today. Thinning treatments at higher elevations of the montane zone will not return the fire regime to an historic low-severity regime, and are of questionable effectiveness in preventing severe wildfires. Based on present-day fuels, predicted fire behavior under extreme fire weather continues to indicate a mixed-severity fire regime throughout most of the montane forest zone. Recent large wildfires in the Front Range are not fundamentally different from similar events that occurred historically under extreme weather conditions. STUDY NOTES: This dataset was contributed as part of the Fire data from the Colorado Front Range 2014 research project (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/17194). Data were contributed to the project from the original data generators. Sample Storage Location: Dating Method: Crossdated Related ITRDB_Chronology: Not Applicable Fire scar data from this site are available in FHX2 format at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usmg-024.fhx along with associated metadata at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usmg-024-rwl-noaa.txt Establishment date data from this site are available in CSV format at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usmg-024.dat along with associated metadata at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usmg-024-estab-noaa.txt NCEI-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/paleoclimatology - NOAA World Data Service for Paleoclimatology Investigator : Gartner, M.H. Investigator : Sherriff, R.L. Investigator : Veblen, T.T. Investigator : Schoennagel, T.L. 2014-09-24 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/37456 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usmg-024.fhx https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usmg-024-fhx-noaa.txt https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usmg-024.dat https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usmg-024-estab-noaa.txt https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usmg-024.fhx https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usmg-024-fhx-noaa.txt https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usmg-024.dat https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usmg-024-estab-noaa.txt English https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/37456 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usmg-024.fhx https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usmg-024-fhx-noaa.txt https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usmg-024.dat https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usmg-024-estab-noaa.txt Sherriff, R.L., R.V. Platt, T.T. Veblen, T.L. Schoennagel, and M.H. Gartner2014Historical, observed, and modeled wildfire severity in montane forests of the Colorado Front RangePLoS ONE99e10697110.1371/journal.pone.0106971 START YEAR: 1644 CE * END YEAR: 2005 CE -105.358939 39.331043 -105.358939 39.331043