This file was created by scanning the printed publication.
Errors identified by the software have been corrected;
however, some errors may remain.
Fire History, Junipero Serra Park, Central Coastal California1
James R. Griffin and Steven N. Talley 2
Abstract.--Fire scars were analyzed on 11 trees from six
plots in a small disjunct Pinus lambertiana forest in the
Santa Lucia Range. Between 1640 and 1907 the frequency of
fires hot enough to produce basal scars on the pines averaged
21 years. Excepting two lightning fires that were quickly
extinguished, no fires occurred after 1907 until a lightning
fire burned the entire forest in 1977. This was the most
intense burn recorded within the life of the present forest.
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
The highest point (1,788 m) in the Santa Lucia Range and adjacent mountains of central coastal
California is Junipero Serra Peak (Griffin 1975).
A small sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) forest covers about 150 ha on the peak's north slope. The
Junipero Serra Peak forest and a larger sugar pine
forest on nearby Cone Peak are separated from the
next sugar pine stands by 220 km (Griffin and
Critchfield 1972). A large area of scrubby mixed
hardwood forest and chaparral surrounds these disjunct pine forests. The Junipero Serra Peak forest
is within a small unit of the Ventana Wilderness,
Los Padres National Forest.
Thirteen 0.07 ha stand structure plots were
located in 1975 throughout the entire range of
pine forest diversity on the peak. Old sugar
pines with large catfaces grew on or immediately
adjacent to six of the plots. Fire scars on these
trees were dated approximately in 1975. After the
1977 fire the same catfaces were studied in greater detail and several trees were added for a total
of 11 catfaces.
Due to physical problems in using chain saws
in rugged terrain with poor access and also administrative problems in using power tools within a
wilderness, only minimum-sized fire scar sections
were removed by hand saw from these trees.
As part of a general ecological survey, we
started floristic, stand structure, and limited
fire scar dating studies on Junipero Serra Peak in
1975. In 1977 a lightning fire burned through the
forest, but the next year we relocated the plots
and continued work in the burn. Early results and
some management implications have been reported
(Talley and Griffin 1980); here only the fire history aspects of the study are given. Although the
study was not designed for detailed fire frequency
analysis, it does offer some information in a region where very little is known of fire history in
montane pine forests.
A helicopter fire crew fell three 1977 firekilled sugar pines on the wilderness boundary for
us. Study of diameter growth rates and details of
fire scar patterns on these stumps helped us to
interpret the plot materials. Steven Talley developed the final fire scar chronology.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Poverty of Cultural Records
1paper presented at the Fire History Workshop. (Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, October 2Q-24, 1980].
Fires scarring old pines on Junipero Serra
Peak span the Indian (before 1800), SpanishMexican (1800-1847), American settlement (18481906), and U.S. Forest Service (since 1907) land
management eras. Through all four periods both
humans and lightning storms started fires on the
peak or close enough to reach the pine forest during hazardous fire periods.
2James R. Griffin is Research Ecologist,
Hastings Reservation, University of California,
Berkeley, Calif.; Steven N. Talley is Post Graduate
Researcher, University of California, Davis, Calif.
We know little about Indian burning practices
in this region. Burcham (1959) doubted that the
local Indians burned chaparral or forest vegetation
in the interior of the Santa Lucia Range. But
a2
burning in grassland and oak woodland has been
documented (Gordon 1977). Even if forest burning
were uncommon, Indian fires in grass or woodland
could have traveled long distances to the peak.
We do know that there was considerable historic
and prehistoric Indian activity near the southern
base of the peak.
forest on the north slope in September, 1959; it
was also quickly suppressed. Two man-caused fires
burned up the south slope but were controlled before reaching the pine forest: a 1,30Q-ba fire
started by a vehicle in June, 1968; and a 2,50Q-ha
fire started at a campground in May, 1976.
In August, 1977, following two seasons of
serious drought, four lightning fires started in
the Ventana Wilderness. They soon merged to form
the "Marble-Cone" conflagration, which covered
72,000 ba. After burning for a week this fire
reached Junipero Serra Peak and burned the pine
forest. This severe surface fire (locally a crown
fire) was probably the most intensive burn to occur
within the life of the present forest. Numerous
sugar pines that bad received no serious fire damage during the preceeding 300 years were killed or
severely damaged. Some of the catfaces studied in
1975 were burned so deeply _that old fire scars
were removed.
We have few additional facts on local burning practices by either the Spanish, Mexican, or
early American ranchers. Conflicting view on
whether these settlers started more or less fires
than the Indians exist. By the 1890's a few reliable reports of large fires in the Santa Lucia
Range began to appear (Talley and Griffin 1980).
During high danger periods, some uncontrolled
fires burned for many weeks; an October, 1906
fire covered some 55,000 ba.
Minimal Lightning Records
Lightning frequency is far lower in the Santa
Lucia Range than in the higher southern California
ranges or the Sierra Nevada. For example, Mt.
Pinos (260 km southeast, up to 900 m higher than
Junipero Serra Peak) may receive 100 lightning
strikes per storm, 600 strikes per season (Vogl
and Miller 1968). About one-third of the pines
which Vogl and Miller sampled on Mt. Pinos had
lightning damage. That degree of damage is not
apparent anywhere in the Santa Lucia Range. On
Junipero Serra Peak lightning-damaged pines are
uncommon; only three were noticed near the plots.
Fire Scar Frequency
The extreme intervals between fire scars on
individual plots ranged from 4 to 108 years (table
1). Eleven of these fires were either spot fires
Table I.--Estimated dates of fires scarring sugar
pines on or adjacent to the Junipero Serra
Peak plots. Dates within a given row are
believed to represent the same fire. Trees
per plot shown under plot number.
Even though the lightning frequency is relatively low in the Santa Lucia Range, late summer
or fall sub-tropical storms can start large numbers
of fires across the region. But reliable records
are too short-term and too incomplete to suggest
regional patterns or long-term trends in frequency
of lightning strikes. Only partial fire records
exist for the Monterey District, Los Padres National Forest before 1919. The 1919-1931 records
are still rather incomplete, and even the 19311977 offical count of 39 lightning fires does not
reflect all the lightning fires actually suppressed
in the Monterey District.
Plot 3 Plot 5 Plot 6 Plot 8 Plot 10 Plot 12
(1)
(2)
(1)
(3)
(2)
(2)
1977
1901
Historic Fires on the Peak
1793
The first historic report3 of a fire on the
summit of Junipero Serra Peak was in 1901 when a
blaze covered most of the mountain including the
pine forest. No other fires started on the peak
or traveled to the peak until September, 1939,
when lightning started a fire in oak scrub on the
northwest ridge. That fire was extinguished while
still small. Lightning started a fire in pine
1743
1977
1959
1901
1896
1872
1852
1840
1820
1791
1786
1758
1746
1740
1724
1688
3Plummer, F. C., and M. G. Gowsell. 1905.
Forest conditions in the Monterey Forest Reserve,
California. Unpublished report. [On file Los
Padres National Forest, Goleta, California~
83
1977
1977
1977
1977
1901
1901
1901
1872
1853
1842
1826
1872
1842
1826
1872
1852
1845
1826
1901
1896
1872
1809
1801
1795
1795
1795
1757
1759
1755
1734
1717
1707
1700
1683
1668
1664
1651
1640
1739
1722
1671
1843
1825
1812
or else not hot enough to scar trees on several
plots. Over the entire time period the average
interval between scars on a given plot ranged
from 19 to 78 years. We emphasize that our sampling methods give us a conservative estimate of
the total number of fires, particularly light
fires early in the history of the forest.
fires were relatively frequent in California and
that fire control during this century has contributed to less frequent but more severe fires. Although prescribed burning is increasingly suggested
as a solution to fuel accumulation problems, prescribed burning in this region will be controversial, hazardous, and expensive. Prescribed burns
will be particularly difficult in the isolated
pine forests within chaparral regions that have
wilderness status. The pine forests on Junipero
Serra Peak, Cone Peak, and Big Pine Mountain well
illustrate the situation in which serious administrative and emotional problems will arise with
any fuel management program -- in addition to the
normal difficulties.
Primitive fire control started in 1907. Before that time 13 fires scarred trees on two or
more plots with an average interval between multiplot fires of 21 years (table 1). These fires
probably lightly burned sizeable portions of this
small forest.
Before fire control the study tree at plot 6
was scarred at least 18 times with an average interval of 15 years. Careful study of a complete
catface section from this tree would probably reveal additional scars (but even with permission to
use a chain saw, a prudent researcher would not
saw very much on this hazardous snag).
As more data on fire history become available,
implementation of effective prescribed burning programs in such areas will become more likely. It is
desirable that more definitive dating of pre-fire
control and especially pre-Spanish fire scars be
done on the Junipero Serra Peak sugar pines. It is
even more desirable that the abundant fire scars be
studied in the Cone Peak forest. Cone Peak has a
greater number of sugar pines of similar sizes
and ages in a more mesic habitat. Portions of the
Cone Peak forest are scheduled to become a Research
Natural area, making it a very appropriate site.
A large proportion of the short fire intervals
(10 years or less) occurred early in the record;
eight before 1809, two after 1809. A decline in
lightning frequency would help to explain such a
trend. But if the Indians started more fires than
the Spanish or Mexican settlers, a more likely
cause of less frequent fires could be the complete
destruction of the Indian culture near the peak
soon after 1800.
The only other study which approaches ours
in terms of vegetation type, topographic setting,
climate, and cultural history was a brief survey
on Big Pine Mountain, Los Padres National Forest
(230 km southeast, up to 250 m higher than Junipero
Serra Peak).4 Although sample sizes were small in
both studies, the results suggest similarities in
fire history. One tree in the Big Pine Mountain
study (resembling the tree on plot 6, table 1)
was very sensitive to fire and had burned 17 times
since 1651. This Big Pine Mountain tree averaged
12 years between fire scars during the Indian era
prior to 1806. The shortest fire scar interval
on any Big Pine Mountain tree was six years. The
Big Pine Mountain forest last burned in a lightning
fire in 1921.
LITERATURE CITED
Burcham, L. T. 1959. Planned burning as a management practice for California wild lands. 21 p.
Calif. Div. Forestry, Sacramento, Calif.
Gordon, Burton, L. 1977. Monterey Bay Area: natural history and cultural imprints. ed. 2.
321 p. Boxwood Press, Pacific Grove, Calif.
Griffin, James R. 1975. Plants of the highest
Santa Lucia and Diablo Range Peaks, California. USDA Forest Service Research Paper PSW110, 50 p. Pacific Southwest Forest and
Range Experiment Station, Berkeley, Calif.
Griffin, James R., and William B. Critchfield.
1972. The distribution of forest trees in
California. USDA Forest Service Research
Paper PSW-82, 114 p. Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Berkeley,
Calif.
CONCLUSIONS
This study adds a central coast example to
the growing body of evidence that pre-Spanish
4sandberg, Nancy. 1977. Ecological processes
on Big Pine Mountain: a proposal for study by fire
scar dating. Senior thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara. 71 p. 1979. Progress report, fire age class study on Big Pine Mountain.
(On file Los Padres National Forest, Goleta,
California.]
Talley, Steven N., and James R. Griffin. 1980.
Fire ecology of a montane pine forest, Junipero Serra Peak, California. Madro~o 27:49-60.
Vogl, Richard J., and Brian C. Miller. 1968. The
vegetational composition of the south slope
of Mt. Pinos, California. Madro~o 19:225-234.
84