Dataset

Database Code

DF005

Title

Fire history database of the western United States, 1994

Abstract

To create a database of existing published and unpublished tree-ring reconstructions of fire regimes in forested areas, before circa 1900, west of 100 W longitude in the continental United States, exclusive of Alaska. The studies included in the database are restricted to tree-ring reconstructions of fire history and the information extracted includes citations to the data sources, site information, estimated fire regimes, and information on individual fire events (when readily available). Fire regimes vary greatly across short distances in the western United States, so that a reconstruction of fire history over a small area may not represent the history of a larger area. Therefore, we extracted information on the size of the study area and the amount of fire evidence (number of trees scarred and/or number of tree origin dates) used in computing the fire regimes to allow the user to gauge the applicability of each reconstruction to larger areas.

Keywords

disturbance; tree rings; Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER); disturbance

Date begin

1993-01-01

Date end

1996-01-01

Principal Investigator

Frederick J. Swanson

Entities

1. DF00501
2. DF00502
3. DF00503

1. DF00501 - Attribute list

2. DF00502 - Attribute list

3. DF00503 - Attribute list

Attribute definitions

ASPECT

Nominal designation

CFI_AREA

Area over which the composite fire interval is measured - does not apply to other computation methods for fire frequency

COMMDOM

Dominant plant community

CROSSDATE

Ring width crossdating used (y/n)

DBCODE

FSDB Database code

ELEVHIGH

Upper end of the range of elevation covered by the site

ELEVLOW

Lower end of the range of elevation covered by the site

ENDYEAR

Ending year if a range of dates for a fire

FIREEVED

Fire evidence used to reconstruct the fire

FIREFREQ

Fire frequency in years as reported by the author of each study. Fire frequency is stratified based on computational method used

FIRESIZE

Size of the fire

FIREYEAR

Year of fire or mid-point of start and end range

FIRE_REGIME_ID

Unique fire regime identity number

FORMAT

Format number

FREQCOMP

Fire-frequency computation method

INDIV_FIRE_ID

Unique individual fire identity number

KUCHLER

Kuchler classification

LATITUDE

Latitude of site location

LONGITUDE

Longitude of site location

NTREESREC

Number of trees used to reconstruct the individual fire

NUMFIRES

Number of fires used to determine the fire regime

NUMTREES

Number of trees used to determine the fire regime

PLANTASSC

Plant association

REFSITE

Fire history reference site code: A combination of the reference and site numbers; e.g. REFSITE = FH04002 refers to the second site from the fortieth reference in the fire history database

REGCHAR

Regime classification based on frequency and severity characteristics

REGSEV

Regime classification based on the effects on vegetation (ie. fire severity)

SITENAME

Name of the site as indicated by the author of the report, or 'entire area' if there is only one site or some other logical identifier

SLOPE

Slope class

STATE

The two-letter postal code for state

STRTYEAR

Starting year if a range of dates for a fire

TOTAREA

Total area of the site

YEARBEG

Starting year of the range of years for which the fire history was reconstructed at the site

YEARBEGCLC

Starting year for the period during which the fire regime is calculated

YEAREND

Ending year of the range of years for which fire history was reconstructed at the site

YEARENDREP

Ending year of the range of years for which the regime is reported

Enumerated domains

Enumerated domain for attribute: DBCODE

Enumerated domain for attribute: REFSITE

Enumerated domain for attribute: STATE

Enumerated domain for attribute: ASPECT

Enumerated domain for attribute: SLOPE

Enumerated domain for attribute: PLANTASSC

Enumerated domain for attribute: COMMDOM

Enumerated domain for attribute: KUCHLER

Enumerated domain for attribute: REGSEV

Enumerated domain for attribute: REGCHAR

Enumerated domain for attribute: FREQCOMP

Enumerated domain for attribute: FIREEVED

Enumerated domain for attribute: CROSSDATE