Saladyga fire data from Ephraim Creek, Appalachian Plateau - IMPD USEPC001 Saladyga, T.; Maxwell, R.S.; Manning, D.R.; Cornett, M.; DePinho, H. Saladyga, T. Maxwell, R.S. Manning, D.R. Cornett, M. DePinho, H. 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 (Ephraim Creek - IMPD USEPC001>LATITUDE 37.99>LONGITUDE -81.02) Aim: Fire has long influenced forests in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America, but the extent to which 19thcentury industrialization reshaped regional fire regimes remains less understood. We evaluated whether industrial-era fire activity represented a statistically extreme departure from longer-term variability and examined how fire activity was organized across the region during and after industrialization. Location: Appalachian Mountains, USA. Taxon: Pinus spp. Methods: We compiled tree-ring fire-scar records from 66 Appalachian sites and analyzed annual network fire occurrence using a core network of 32 sites with sufficient temporal coverage between 1800 and 1950. We identified regime shifts in regional fire activity, evaluated relationships with reconstructed drought variability, examined spatial patterns of shared fire years amongsites, and mapped post-1950 fire persistence across the broader network. Results: Network fire occurrence increased during the late 19th century before collapsing during the early 20th century. Elevated fire activity coincided with rapid railroad expansion and broader industrial-era land-use change. Fire activity remainedassociated with drought throughout the record, but the timing and magnitude of the industrial-era fire pulse aligned moreclosely with industrialization and subsequent fire suppression than with shifts in reconstructed climate variability. Analyses of shared fire years among sites indicated weak spatial structuring, suggesting that elevated regional fire activity reflected geographically widespread human ignitions across heterogeneous landscapes. Post-1950 fire persistence was concentrated within the Pennsylvania anthracite and southern West Virginia coal regions. Main Conclusions: Industrialization coincided with a regional pulse in Appalachian fire activity characterized by widespread human ignitions associated with industrial-era land use, while climatic variability continued to modulate fire activity through time. Persistent fire activity within Appalachian coalfield regions further suggests that industrial and post-industrial land-use legacies contributed to the uneven decline of fire activity during the suppression era. STUDY NOTES: Fire scars occurring between annual rings (i.e., dormant season) were assigned to the year after scarring. Sample Storage Location: Fayetteville, West Virginia (tsaladyga@appheadwaters.org) 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/usepc001.fhx along with associated metadata at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usepc001-fhx-noaa.txt NCEI-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/paleoclimatology - NOAA World Data Service for Paleoclimatology Investigator : Saladyga, T. Investigator : Maxwell, R.S. Investigator : Manning, D.R. Investigator : Cornett, M. Investigator : DePinho, H. 2026-07-24 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/45222 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usepc001.fhx https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usepc001-fhx-noaa.txt https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usepc001.fhx https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usepc001-fhx-noaa.txt English https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/45222 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usepc001.fhx https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usepc001-fhx-noaa.txt Saladyga, T.; Maxwell, R.S.2026Industrialization Drives a Late-19th-Century Pulse in Appalachian Fire ActivityJournal of Biogeography53710.1111/jbi.70301 Saladyga, T.; Maxwell, R.S.; Manning, D.R.2024Pine woodland fire dynamics mirror industrial history at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia, USATree, Forests and People1810.1016/j.tfp.2024.100676 START YEAR: 1837 CE * END YEAR: 2024 CE -81.02 37.99 -81.02 37.99