Pacific Northwest Research Station

Title: Fire and weather disturbances in terrestrial ecosystems of the eastern Cascades.

Author: Agee, James K.

Date: 1994

Source: Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 52 p. (Everett, Richard L., assessment team leader; Eastside forest ecosystem health assessment; Hessburg, Paul F., science team leader and tech. ed., Volume III: assessment.)

Station ID: GTR-PNW-320

Description: Fire has been an important ecological process in eastside Cascade ecosystems for millennia. Fire regimes ranged from low severity to high severity, and historic fire return intervals ranged from less than a decade to greater than 300 years. Fire history and effects are described for grassland and shrubland ecosystems, and the range of forested communities by plant series: Ponderosa Pine, Douglas-fir/White fir/Grand fir, Lodgepole pine, Western hemlock/Western redcedar, and subalpine fir/Mountain hemlock. The riparian zones within these communities may be more or less impacted by fire. The effects of extreme weather events, including unusual temperature, wind, or moisture have generally had less significant impact than fire. Management practices, including fire suppression, timber harvesting, and livestock grazing, have altered historical fire regimes, in some cases irreversibly. The management issues for the 1990s include both management and research issues, at a grand scale with which we have little experience. Ecosystem and adaptive management principles will have to be applied.

Keywords: Forest fire, fire history, Juniperus occidentalis, Pinus ponderosa, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Abies grandis, Abies lasiocarpa, Pinus contorta

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Citation

Agee, James K.  1994.  Fire and weather disturbances in terrestrial ecosystems of the eastern Cascades..   Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 52 p. (Everett, Richard L., assessment team leader; Eastside forest ecosystem health assessment; Hessburg, Paul F., science team leader and tech. ed., Volume III: assessment.).