noaa-fire-45220 Saladyga fire data from Big Pine Knob, Appalachian Plateau - IMPD USBPK001 Saladyga, T.; Maxwell, R.S.; Manning, D.R.; Raso, C. Saladyga fire data from Big Pine Knob, Appalachian Plateau - IMPD USBPK001 2026-07-24 NCEI-Paleoclimatology ONLINE Files e75c4f6a-12be-44e7-9393-261a3109dac5 10.25921/8691-jk32 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/45220 Investigator T. Saladyga Investigator R.S. Maxwell Investigator D.R. Manning Investigator C. Raso 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 fire scar dates geoscientificInformation 1838 CE 2024 CE 112 cal yr BP -74 cal yr BP Complete 38.89 38.89 -80.88 -80.88 400 400 Continent North America United States Of America West Virginia Big Pine Knob - IMPD USBPK001>LATITUDE 38.89>LONGITUDE -80.88 None Please cite original publication, online resource, dataset and publication DOIs (where available), and date accessed when using downloaded data. If there is no publication information, please cite investigator, title, online resource, and date accessed. The appearance of external links associated with a dataset does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of external Web sites or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities, the Department of Commerce/NOAA does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. These links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this Department of Commerce/NOAA Web site. English DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/paleoclimatology Data Center Contact NOAA World Data Service for Paleoclimatology paleo@noaa.gov 828-271-4800 303-497-6513

325 Broadway, E/NE31

Boulder CO 80305-3328 USA online ASCII Saladyga, T.; Maxwell, R.S. 2026 Journal of Biogeography 53 7 10.1111/jbi.70301

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/usbpk001.fhx along with associated metadata at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usbpk001-fhx-noaa.txt

GET DATA https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usbpk001.fhx Data - Fire History Exchange File (FHX); Big Pine Knob Fire Scar Data GET DATA https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usbpk001-fhx-noaa.txt Metadata - NOAA Template File; Big Pine Knob Fire Scar Metadata USA/NOAA DIF Version 9.8.4 2026-08-05 2026-08-05