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Foreword
Fire has played a role in shaping many of the
plant communities found in the world today. Just
how important this role has been can only be determined after we know more about the frequency,
extent, and intensity of these historical fires.
The Fire History Workshop, first of its kind held
anywhere in the world, held as its primary objective the exchange of information on techniques
and methodologies for determining fire histories
based on tree-ring evidence. In addition, the
workshop provided a forum for reporting on current,
or recently completed fire history studies; made
facilities and expertise available through the
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research for inspecting
fire-scarred specimens and answering specific
questions concerning dating and interpretation
of the fire-scarred material; and helped resolve
problems in terminologies which so frequently
accompany developing sciences.
The study of fire scars as reflected in the
radial growth patterns of both softwoods and hardwood tree species provides an important means of
securing information on the precise years in
which fires occurred during centuries past. The
fire-scarred material collected and studied represents a form of "natural resource artifact"much as the pot-sherd or spear point represent
cultural artifacts of past civilization. These
natural resource artifacts are disappearing and
one day will be totally absent from forested areas
due to the influence of logging, fire, natural
mortality and deterioration. ~en the material
holding historical fire evidence currently being
protected in Nationai Parks, Natural Areas, and
other reserves will eventually be returned to
the soil through natural processes. For this
reason, it seems imperative that those collecting
fire-scarred material for study insure that representative specimens are properly described,
cataloged, preserved, and protected so that they
will be available for future studies if needed.
Since the early 1970's there has been a renewed interest in the use of tree.rings and fire
scars as a means of describing historical fires.
Both living and dead material have been represented. This renewed interest has been generated in
part by the general recognition that fire effects
are not always destructive, and that in fact there
are many beneficial aspects of fire when it burns
under prescribed conditions of fuel, weather, and
topography. The increased awareness of the need
to return fire to its natural role in various ecosystems has also prompted this renewed interest
for without knowing What the natural fire cycles
have been in the past, it will be impossible to
realistically reintroduce fire into these same ecosystems.
The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research played
an extremely important role in this workshop. If
the science of dendrochronology is to be used in
the process of identifying and describing the
incidence of historical fires, the established
guidelines and procedures for analyzing the material
and expressing the results should be carefully adhered to! Personnel at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring
Research willingly provided this assistance and those
attending the workshop benefited directly from this
store of knowledge and experience.
There was a consensus that a similar forum be
held in the future to provide an opportunity to report on completed studies and propose new work relating to dendrochronology and fire history. Our workshop provided only limited opportunity for reporting
on fire effects and plant succession and on paleoecological studies. We anticipate that this will
not change much in the immediate future because of
the need to continue to resolve problems in utilizing dendrochronological techniques in determining
fire histories; and the fact that ample opportunities
will be available through other outlets to report
on immediate and long-term effects of single and
multiple burns. Additional subjects that might be
covered in a future workshop include the mechanics
of fire-scarring and physiology of the recovery
process, statistical sampling problems related to
fire history studies, and application of fire history studies in management situations.
Workshop proceedings are notoriously late in
reaching the hands of workshop attendees and ultimate
users of the information. To speed up publication
of these proceedings Robert Hamre, Editor, Rocky
Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, contacted each author asking them to assume full responsibility for submitting manuscripts in cameraready format by the time the workshop convened. Bob
was largely successful in this effort and we appreciate his efforts in getting the proceedings processed and published.
Many individuals assisted in making the workshop
a success. Dr. Bryant Bannister, Director, and
members of his staff at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring
Research were most cooperative in providing support
for the workshop. Marna Thompson, Terry Mazany, and
Tom Harlan handled many of the arrangement and
organizing details for the workshop.
Special thanks to Phyllis West, Rocky Mountain
Forest and Range Experiment Station, Tempe, AZ. for
her clerical and manuscript assistance during the
workshop, and to John McKelvy, Fire Management
Officer, Santa Catalina District, Coronado National
Forest for his efforts in hosting the field trip to
Mount Lemmon.
Marvin Stokes
J. H. Dieterich