Historical fire regimes from red pines (Pinus resinosa Ait.) across the Tension Zone in the Lower Peninsula, Michigan USA

Abstract

Currently, no multiple century fire scar records have been constructed in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, USA, a region where historical vegetation ranged from prairies and oak-dominated woodlands in the south to conifer-northern hardwood forests and swamps to the north. The western portion of the Huron-Manistee National Forests is located within this strong vegetation transition (i.e., “Tension Zone”) and, based on this study, has well-preserved remnant red pine trees dating back to at least the late 1400s with fire scars dating back to 1523. From fire scar records constructed at four study sites, we documented historical fires as having a wide range of fire intervals and seasonalities. A general timeline of fire activity changes in this region can be described as relatively frequent fire in the pre- and early-European contact eras, variable and generally less fire from this point forward until the period of major logging activities after which fire frequency was significantly increased. Historical fires were associated with drought in the year of fire. Some broad synchronies of fire occurrence existed among sites such as 3 of 4 sites recording fires in years 1717, 1774, and 1829. Interestingly, these years were not exceptionally dry nor among the driest fire years. Future development of fire scar records will likely improve spatio-temporal characterization of regional fire regimes including understanding of human-climate-fire dynamics.