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Fire History and Age-Structure on Price Mountain, Virginia. NADEF 2011 8 August 2011. Objectives. Develop master chronology for chestnut oak, pitch pine, table mountain pine, and sourwood Determine fire history for Price Mountain
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Fire History and Age-Structure on Price Mountain, Virginia NADEF 2011 8 August 2011
Objectives • Develop master chronology for chestnut oak, pitch pine, table mountain pine, and sourwood • Determine fire history for Price Mountain • Investigate fire scarring potential of black gum, sourwood, and other hardwoods • Investigate current stand age structure
PRI025 – Pinus spp. Smith and Sutherland, 1999 & 2001 WW
PRI010A – Pinus spp. WW WW
PRI020 – Oxydendrumarboreum WID WW WR WID CBL
PRI028 – Caryaspp WW CBL WID
PRI012A – Nyssa sylvatica WW WID
FHX2 Fire Analysis Mean Fire Interval = 14 years Based on 2 trees scarred minimum and 25% scarred trees Fire Years 1861 1882 1892 1896 1916 1925
Age Structure Copenheaveret al. 2006
Conclusions • Chronologies: • No sourwood chronologies in the ITRDB. • Pitch and Table Mountain pine chronologies correlated with each other and nearby Brush Mountain chronology from 1993 NADEF. • Fire History: • 6 fire years, with 14 year mean fire interval. • Fire suppression effective after 1930. • Hardwood Fire Scars: • Black gum, sourwood, black locust, American Chestnut, and pignut hickory all scarred. • Unable to crossdate black gum, chestnut, and locust • Age Structure: • Establishment coincided with chestnut blight, high grading, and end of fire in 1930’s.
Acknowledgements • National Science Foundation • Dr. Carolyn Copenheaver for local organizing and field site selection • Virginia Tech/ Fishburn Forest • Mountain Lake Biological Station • Dr. Henri Grissino-Mayer for program development (FHX2) • Our fearless project leaders Dr. Margot Kaye and Dr. Jim Speer • Dr. Henry Wilbur, Salamander Hunter extraordinaire The End