Abstract

Giant Sequoia Fire History in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park. T.W. Swetnam, R. Touchan, C.H. Baisan, A.C. Caprio, and P.M. Brown. 1991. pp. 249-253. Yosemite Centennial Symposium Proceedings - A Global Issues Symposium Joining the 17th Annual Natural Areas Conferene with the Yosemite Centennial Celebration Oct. 13-20, 1990. 667 pp.

ABSTRACT - We reconstructed a 1,438-year history of wildfire in the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum. Partial cross sections were taken from 18 dead fire-scarred trees, and tree rings and fire scars were dated. The resulting master fire chronology shows that fires recurred at intervals ranging from 1 to 15 years. Changes in fire frequency on time scales of centuries are also apparent. This fire history documents the long-term importance of fire in sequoia-mixed conifer ecosystems and illustrates the temporal variability of fire regimes.