Drought and Pacific Decadal Oscillation Linked to
Fire Occurrence in the Inland Pacific Northwest
Identification_Information
Data_Quality_Information
Entity_and_Attribute_Information
Identification Information
Section
Index
Citation:
Description:
Abstract:
Historical variability of fire regimes must be understood within the
context of climatic and human drivers of disturbance occurring at multiple
temporal scales. We describe the relationship between fire occurrence and
interannual to decadal climatic variability (Palmer Drought Severity Index
[PDSI], El Niño/Southern Oscillation [ENSO] and the Pacific Decadal
Oscillation [PDO]) and explain how land use changes in the 20th century
affected these relationships. We used 1701 fire-scarred trees collected in
five study sites in central and eastern Washington to investigate current
year, lagged, and low frequency relationships between composite fire
histories and PDSI, PDO, and ENSO (using the Southern Oscillation Index
[SOI] as a measure of ENSO variability) using superposed epoch analysis
and cross-spectral analysis. Fires tended to occur during dry summers and
during the positive phase of the PDO. Cross-spectral analysis indicates
that percentage of trees scarred by fire and the PDO are spectrally
coherent at 47 years, the approximate cycle of the PDO. Similarly,
percentage scarred and ENSO are spectrally coherent at 6 years, the
approximate cycle of ENSO. However other results suggest that ENSO was
only a weak driver of fire occurrence in the past three centuries. While
drought and fire appear to be tightly linked between 1700-1900, the
relationship between drought and fire occurrence was disrupted during the
20th century as a result of land use changes. We suggest that long-term
fire planning using the PDO may be possible in the PNW, potentially
allowing decadal-scale management of fire regimes, prescribed fire and
vegetation dynamics.
Purpose:
From an ecological perspective, connections between fire and climate
at interannual (and longer) timescales suggest the possibility that other
ecosystem processes, such as nutrient cycling, regeneration and mortality
may also be linked to interannual to decadal variability in climate,
through fire effects. From a management perspective, the connections
between fire and interannual climatic variability allow managers to
predict wildfire severity at a broad range of temporal scales, from daily
and seasonal predictions of fire hazard to annual and multi-annual
predictions of fire occurrence and extent, where climatic controls like
ENSO are important. If climatic phenomena operating on decadal time
scales, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), also affect fire
occurrence and spread, then our perspective on ecosystem processes as well
as our ability to predict fire hazard will be significantly broadened.
Status:
Spatial Domain:
Description of Geographic Extent:
Five study sites range from the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in
central Washington to the Colville National Forest in northeastern
Washington. Study sites occupy a 300 km northeast to southwest gradient
across the Okanogan Highlands and down the east side of the Cascade Range.
Keywords:
Theme:
Theme Keyword Thesaurus: None
Theme Keyword: fire history
Theme
Keyword: climate
Theme Keyword:
Pacific Northwest
Theme Keyword: Pacific
Dencadal Oscillation
Theme Keyword: El
Niño/Southern Oscillation
Theme Keyword:
drought
Theme Keyword: Strategic
Environmental Assessment
Theme Keyword:
cross-spectral
Taxonomy:
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name: Kingdom
Taxon Rank Value: Plantae
Taxonomic
Classification:
Taxon Rank Name: Subkingdom
Taxon Rank Value: Tracheobionta
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name: Division
Taxon Rank Value: Coniferophyta
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name: Class
Taxon Rank Value: Pinopsida
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name: Order
Taxon Rank Value: Pinales
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name:
Family
Taxon Rank Value:
Cupressaceae
Taxonomic
Classification:
Taxon Rank Name:
Genus
Taxon Rank Value:
Thuja
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name:
Species
Taxon Rank Value:
Thuja plicata
Applicable Common
Name: western red cedar
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name:
Family
Taxon Rank Value:
Pinaceae
Taxonomic
Classification:
Taxon Rank Name:
Genus
Taxon Rank Value:
Larix
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name:
Species
Taxon Rank Value:
Larix occidentalis
Applicable Common
Name: western larch
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name:
Genus
Taxon Rank Value:
Pinus
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name:
Species
Taxon Rank Value:
Pinus ponderosa
Applicable Common
Name: ponderosa pine
Taxonomic Classification:
Taxon Rank Name:
Genus
Taxon Rank Value:
Pseudotsuga
Taxonomic
Classification:
Taxon Rank Name:
Species
Taxon Rank Value:
Pseudotsuga menziesii
Applicable Common
Name:
Douglas-fir
Analytical Tool:
Analytical Tool Description: Fire history
software
Tool Access Information:
Analytical Tool:
Analytical Tool Description: Exploratory
data modeling and statistical analysis software
Tool
Access Information:
Data Quality Information
Section
Index
Lineage:
Methodology:
Methodology Type: Field
Methodology Description:
Within each study site, aerial photographs and topographic maps were
used to identify and map aspect polygons, delineated by aspect
(northerly or southerly) and slope (flat, moderate, or steep). Sizes of
aspect polygons ranged from 32 to 1700 ha, and the number within each
site ranged from 2 to 21. Polygons were internally stratified into four
to five sub-polygons to ensure that fire scar samples were spatially
segregated in the polygon. All fire-scarred trees within each
sub-polygon were mapped, and between 2 and 23 high quality trees (with a
large number of scars) were sampled. Sections were cut from live trees
(Arno and Sneck 1977), and cross-sections were collected from stumps,
snags and logs.
Fire scars collected from both living and dead trees
were prepared using standard procedures (Arno and Sneck 1977). Live
sections were planed and both live and dead sections were sanded with
80-600 grit sandpaper to identify individual tree rings. All samples
were then crossdated (Stokes and Smiley 1968) against an independent
master tree-ring chronology developed from 20-50 climatically sensitive
trees (without fire scars) within each sampling area. The year of each
fire scar was determined by the position of the scar relative to the
dated sequence of annual rings in the cross-section (Dieterich and
Swetnam 1984). Dates were checked by at least two technicians before
being archived and summarized using FHX2 fire history software
(Grissino-Mayer et al. 1995). Samples that could not be conclusively
dated with annual resolution were excluded from the analysis. Based on
the pattern of late season fires (July-October) in the modern record
dormant season fires were always assigned to the calendar year of the
previous ring (representing a fall fire), rather than the following ring
(representing a spring fire).
Methodology
Citation:
Citation Information:
Originator: Arno, S. F. and K. M.
Sneck
Publication Date:
1977
Title: A method for determining
fire history in coniferous forests of the mountain west
Series Information:
Series Name: USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report
Issue
Identification: INT-GTR-42
Methodology Citation:
Citation Information:
Originator: Stokes, M. A., and T. L.
Smiley
Publication Date:
1968
Title: An introduction to
tree-ring dating
Publication
Information:
Publication Place: Chicago,
IL
Publisher: The University of
Chicago Press
Methodology
Citation:
Citation Information:
Originator: Dieterich, J. H. and T. W.
Swetnam
Publication Date:
1984
Title: Dendrochronology of
fire-scarred ponderosa pine
Series
Information:
Series Name: Forest
Science
Issue Identification:
30:238-247
Methodology
Citation:
Citation Information:
Originator: Grissino-Mayer, H. D.,
Baisan, C. H., and T. W. Swetnam
Publication
Date: 1995
Title: Fire
history in the Pinaleño Mountains of Southeastern Arizona: effects of
human-related disturbances
Series
Information:
Series Name: USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report
Issue
Identification: RM-GTR-289
Other
Citation Details:
In P. F. Folliott, L. F. DeBano, M. B. Maker, G. J. Gottfried,
G. Solis-Garza, C. B. Edminster, D. G. Neary, L. S. Allen, and R. H.
Hamre, editors. Effects of Fire on Madrean Province Ecosystems: A
Symposium Proceedings
Source
Information:
Source Citation:
Citation Information:
Originator: Dieterich, J. H. and T. W.
Swetnam
Publication Date:
1984
Title: Dendrochronology of
fire-scarred ponderosa pine
Series
Information:
Series Name: Forest
Science
Issue Identification:
30:238-247
Source Time Period of
Content:
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Information:
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Publication Date: 1994
Title: Fire and weather disturbances in terrestrial
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Publication Date: 1984
Title: The Palmer Drought Severity Index:
limitations and assumptions
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and Applied Meteorology
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E.
Publication Date: 1982
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Series
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Issue
Identification: INT-122
Source Time Period of Content:
Source
Information:
Source Citation:
Citation Information:
Originator: Arno, S. F. and K. M.
Sneck
Publication Date:
1977
Title: A method for determining
fire history in coniferous forests of the mountain west
Series Information:
Series Name: USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report
Issue
Identification: INT-GTR-42
Source Time Period of Content:
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31:1205-1226
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Originator: Grissino-Mayer, H. D.,
Baisan, C. H., and T. W. Swetnam
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Date: 1995
Title: Fire
history in the Pinaleño Mountains of Southeastern Arizona: effects of
human-related disturbances
Series
Information:
Series Name: USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report
Issue
Identification: RM-GTR-289
Other
Citation Details:
In P. F. Folliott, L. F. DeBano, M. B. Maker, G. J. Gottfried,
G. Solis-Garza, C. B. Edminster, D. G. Neary, L. S. Allen, and R. H.
Hamre, editors. Effects of Fire on Madrean Province Ecosystems: A
Symposium Proceedings
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Originator: Grissino-Mayer, H. D., and
T. W. Swetnam
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2000
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forcing of fire regimes in the American Southwest
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Series Name: Holocene
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responds to climatic variability at annual and decadal time
scales
Series Information:
Series Name: Ecology
Issue Identification:
82:3330-3345
Source Time Period of
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Information:
Source Citation:
Citation Information:
Originator: Prager, M. H. and J. M.
Hoenig
Publication Date:
1989
Title: Superposed epoch analysis:
a randomized test of environmental effects on recruitment with
application to chub mackerel
Series
Information:
Series Name: Transactions of the
American Fisheries Society
Issue
Identification: 118:608-618
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Information:
Source Citation:
Citation Information:
Originator: Pyne, S. J.
Publication Date: 2001
Title: Year of the fires: the story of the great
fires of 1910
Publication Information:
Publication Place: New York,
NY
Publisher: Viking
Press
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Information:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Redmond, K. T. and R. W.
Koch
Publication Date: 1991
Title: Surface climate and streamflow variability
in the Western United States and their relationship to large-scale
circulation indices
Series Information:
Series Name: Water Resources
Research
Issue Identification:
27:2381-2399
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Information:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Robbins, W. G.
Publication Date: 1999
Title: Landscape and environment: ecological change
in the Intermontane Northwest
Publication
Information:
Publication Place: Corvallis,
OR
Publisher: Oregon State University
Press
Other Citation Details:
Pages 219-237 in R. Boyd, editor. Indians, fire, and the land in the
Pacific Northwest
Source Time Period of
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Information:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Robbins, W. G. and D. W.
Wolf
Publication Date: 1994
Title: Landscape and the intermontane Northwest: an
environmental history
Series
Information:
Series Name: USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report
Issue
Identification: PNW-GTR-319
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Information:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Romme, W.H.
Publication Date: 1980
Title: Fire history terminology: report of the Ad
Hoc Committee
Series Information:
Series Name: USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report
Issue
Identification: RM-81
Other
Citation Details: Pages 135-137 in M. A. Stokes and J. H.
Dietrich, editors. Proceedings of the Fire History Workshop, 20-24
October 1980. Edited by M.A. Stokes and J.H.
Dietrich
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Citation Information:
Originator: Rorig, M. L. and S. A.
Ferguson
Publication Date:
1999
Title: Characteristics of
lightning and wildland fire ignition in the Pacific
Northwest
Series Information:
Series Name: Journal of Applied
Meteorology
Issue Identification:
38:1565-1575
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Information:
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Originator: Ross, J. A.
Publication Date: 1999
Title: Proto-historical and historical Spokane
prescribed burning and stewardship of resource areas
Publication Information:
Publication Place: Corvallis,
OR
Publisher: Oregon State University
Press
Other Citation Details:
Pages 1-30 in R. Boyd, editors. Indians, fire, and the land in the
Pacific Northwest
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Information:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Savage, M., and T. W.
Swetnam
Publication Date:
1990
Title: Early 19th-century fire
decline following sheep pasturing in a Navajo ponderosa pine
forest
Series Information:
Series Name: Ecology
Issue Identification:
71:2374-2378
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Information:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Schmoldt, D. L., D. L.
Peterson, R. E. Keane, J. M. Lenihan, D. McKenzie, D. R. Weise, and D.
V. Sandberg
Publication Date:
1999
Title: Assessing the effects of
fire disturbance on ecosystems: a scientific agenda for research and
management
Series Information:
Series Name: USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report
Issue
Identification: PNW-GTR-455
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Information:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Schroeder, M. J. and C. C.
Buck
Publication Date: 1970
Title: Fire weather: a guide for application of
meteorological information to forest control operations
Publication Information:
Publication Place: Washington
DC
Publisher: USDA
Other Citation Details: Agricultural Handbook
360
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Originator: Smith, S. and J. J.
O’Brien
Publication Date:
2001
Title: Regional snowfall
distributions associated with ENSO: implications for seasonal
forecasting
Series Information:
Series Name: Bulletin of the
American Meteorological Society
Issue
Identification: 82:1179-1191
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Originator:
Stahle, D. W., R. D. D'Arrigo, P. J. Krusic, M. K. Cleaveland,
E. R. Cook, R. J. Allan, J. E. Cole, R. B. Dunbar, M. D. Therrell,
D. A. Gay, M. D. Moore, M. A. Stokes, B. T. Burns, J.
Villanueva-Diaz and L. G. Thompson
Publication
Date: 1998
Title:
Experimental dendroclimatic reconstruction of the Southern
Oscillation
Series Information:
Series Name: Bulletin of the
American Meteorological Society
Issue
Identification: 79:2137-2152
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Originator: Stokes, M. A., and T. L.
Smiley
Publication Date:
1968
Title: An introduction to
tree-ring dating
Publication
Information:
Publication Place: Chicago,
IL
Publisher: The University of
Chicago Press
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Citation Information:
Originator: Swetnam, T. W.
Publication Date: 1993
Title: Fire history and climate change in giant
sequoia groves
Series Information:
Series Name: Science
Issue Identification:
262:885-889
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Information:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Swetnam, T. W. and C. H.
Baisan
Publication Date:
1994
Title: Historical fire regime
patterns in the Southwestern United States since AD 1700
Series Information:
Series Name: USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report
Issue
Identification: RM-GTR-286
Other
Citation Details: In C. D. Allen. Fire Effects in
Southwestern Forests: Proceedings of the Second La Mesa Fire
Symposium. Los Alamos, New Mexico
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Time Period of Content:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Swetnam, T. W. and J. L.
Betancourt
Publication Date:
1990
Title: Fire-Southern Oscillation
relations in the southwestern United States
Series
Information:
Series Name: Science
Issue Identification:
249:1017-1020
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Originator: Swetnam, T. W. and J. L.
Betancourt
Publication Date:
1998
Title: Mesoscale disturbance and
ecological response to decadal climatic variability in the American
Southwest
Series Information:
Series Name: Journal of
Climate
Issue Identification:
11:3128-3147
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Citation Information:
Originator: Veblen, T. T., T.
Kitzberger, and J. Donnegan
Publication
Date: 2000
Title: Climatic
and human influences on fire regimes in ponderosa pine forests in the
Colorado Front Range
Series
Information:
Series Name: Ecological
Applications
Issue Identification:
10:1178-1195
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Originator: Walker, D. W.
Jr.
Publication Date: 1998
Title: Handbook of North American Indians v. 12.
Plateau
Publication Information:
Publication Place: Washington
DC
Publisher: Smithsonian
Institution
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Citation Information:
Originator: Weaver, H.
Publication Date: 1951
Title: Fire as an ecological factor in the
southwestern ponderosa pine forests
Series
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Issue Identification:
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Information:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Western Regional Climate
Center
Publication Date:
2003
Title: Western Regional Climate
Center
Publication Information:
Publication Place: Reno,
NV
Online Linkage: http://wrcc.sage.dri.edu/
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Information:
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Citation Information:
Originator: Williams, C. K., & T.
R. Lillybridge
Publication Date:
1983
Title: Forested plant associations
of the Okanogan National Forest
Series
Information:
Series Name: USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report
Issue
Identification: R6-ECOL-132b-1983
Source Time Period of Content:
Source
Information:
Source Citation:
Citation Information:
Originator: Williams, C. K., T. R.
Lillybridge, and B. G. Smith
Publication
Date: 1990
Title: Forested
plant associations of the Colville National Forest, field
guide
Publication Information:
Publication Place: Coleville,
WA
Publisher: USDA Forest Service
Coleville National Forest
Source Time
Period of Content:
Process Step:
Process Description:
Using the FHX2 software, we developed a master database of fire
history records for all points (fire-scarred trees), study sites and the
entire region. Trees that are scarred by fire lose protective bark and
are therefore more likely to record fires again. As a result, trees are
only considered “recorder trees” from the time of initial scarring until
either the death of the tree or the sampling date (Romme 1980). Because
a single tree can record many fire events and many of these events were
likely quite small (recorded by only 1-2 trees), we created composite
fire histories for each study site (Grissino-Mayer et al. 1995). These
composites include only those years during which > 10% of the
recorder trees in a study site recorded fire, a minimum sample depth of
two recorder trees were present and at least two trees recorded fire. To
identify regional fire years, (representing large fire events that span
more than one study site) we calculated the percentage scarred from each
site and weighted (divided) it by the size of the study area. This
prevented large study areas from having an exaggerated influence on our
determination of regional fires. We then identified those years during
which > 10% of all recorder trees (weighted by study area size) in
all study sites recorded fires (with a minimum sample depth of two
recorder trees and two scars). Large regional fire years were identified
using the same method, but with a minimum of 25% of recorder trees
recording fire.
We created collector’s curves to graphically display
the number of fire years recorded given different numbers of recorder
trees sampled. We used these curves to evaluate the adequacy of the
sample size in each study site and to identify the time period with an
adequate sample size for analysis of the fire regime. As the collector’s
curve flattens, additional samples add fewer and fewer new fire years to
the history of fire at that site, indicating that additional samples
will yield little new information.
To describe the basic fire
history of our study sites and to understand changes in fire history
with Euro-American settlement, we calculated fire return intervals for
each point both prior to and following Euro-American influence
(1700-1900 and 1901-1990, respectively). Point intervals, or the time
between fires affecting a single point, are longer than composite
intervals, but are not subject to the variation associated with varying
sample size or sample area (Agee 1993; Baker and Ehle
2001).
Three reconstructed climatic variables were used in this
analysis. We used a reconstruction of summer PDSI based on a gridded
network of tree-ring chronologies from the United States (Cook et al.
1999, gridpoint #9) to evaluate the effect of drought on fire
occurrence. We also used a tree-ring reconstruction of the winter SOI
(Southern Oscillation Index, an ENSO index) based on regionally averaged
tree-ring data from Mexico and Oklahoma (Stahle et al. 1998) to compare
fire history to ENSO. When SOI is positive, La Niña conditions (cool,
wet) dominate and when SOI is negative, El Niño conditions (warm, dry)
dominate. ENSO conditions may lead surface climate conditions in the
Pacific Northwest by at least 6 months (Redmond and Koch 1991),
therefore we expect to see a relationship between the reconstruction and
current as well as subsequent seasons. Finally, we used a tree-ring
reconstruction of PDO based on Pacific Northwest trees (Gedalof and
Smith 2001) to compare fire occurrence to the PDO. Although PDO and ENSO
are synoptic scale indices of climate, they are both correlated with
local climate conditions in the region and in the study area. Consistent
with regional relationships, SOI is negatively correlated with spring
temperatures and positively correlated with winter precipitation in our
study area. Also consistent with regional relationships, the PDO is
positively correlated with spring temperature and negatively correlated
with winter precipitation in our study area.
We investigated
current year, lagged, and decadal frequency relationships between fire
and PDSI, PDO, and SOI using graphical analysis, correlation, superposed
epoch analysis (SEA) (Haurwitz and Brier 1981, Prager and Hoenig 1989,
Baisan and Swetnam 1990) and cross-spectral analysis (Bloomfield 2000).
Correlation was used to identify relationships betweenPDSI and fire
occurrence prior to and following Euro-American land-use changes. SEA
identifies statistical, non-linear relationships between climate
variables and fire years. Mean values of reconstructed PDSI and SOI were
calculated for 6-year windows (3 years preceding, 2 years following and
each composite fire year [when > 10% of the trees in each watershed
were scarred]) for each watershed. We chose 6-year windows to allow us
to evaluate conditions preceding fire that may be linked to multi-annual
climatic variability and/or fuel buildup. These values were compared
with the complete climatic record during the period of analysis for PDSI
and SOI, and tested for significance using Monte Carlo simulations that
randomly pick years, identify 6-year windows, calculate expected means,
and provide 95% bootstrap confidence intervals (Grissino-Mayer et al.
1995). We did not perform SEA on fire occurrence and PDO because the
frequency of PDO is too low (20-40 years) to be captured by the SEA
window. Instead we used cross-spectral analysis to identify associations
between both the PDO and SOI indices and the percentage of recorder
trees scarred. This technique is more appropriate for examining low
frequency variability in time series.
In cross-spectral
analysis, the magnitude squared coherence (msc) is computed from the
cross spectrum of two time series and the spectral densities of each
individually, and normalized to the interval (0,1) (Percival 1994). It
is thus the analogue in the frequency domain to a correlation
coefficient, and is maximized, in our case, when temporal variation in
the percentage of trees recording fire is synchronized with temporal
variation in the climatic time series. Cross-spectral analysis is only
appropriate for time series with periodic or quasi-periodic components
(e.g., ENSO and PDO, but not PDSI). Because there were so many zero
values in the time series of percentage scarred, along with few large
values (>20% scarred), we aggregated both time series in the PDO
analysis to blocks of five-year means (climate) and sums (percentage
scarred) to achieve second-order stationarity in the latter time series
(Brockwell and Davis 1996). This procedure reduced the modeled time
series length by a factor of five. We did not apply running means or
sums (moving windows), because this type of smoothing can introduce
spurious oscillations in time series (Howarth and Rogers 1992). This
aggregation technique was not possible with SOI, however, because the
ENSO cycle often fits within a five-year time step. Both cross-spectrum
were computed using a smoothed periodogram with Daniell smoothers and a
split cosine taper applied to the outer 20% of the time series (Percival
and Walden 1993). Confidence intervals can be constructed around the msc
by deriving expressions for the variances and covariance of smoothed
spectra and a bias-reduction factor using the inverse hyperbolic tangent
(Bloomfield 2000). A 95% confidence interval around the msc is:
tanh(tanh-1(msc ± 1.96(dfspec-1/2))) where dfspec is the equivalent
degrees of freedom of the cross-spectral estimate (Bloomfield 2000).
Computation of the lower confidence band permits a significance test for
whether the msc is different from zero at a=0.05 (if the lower
confidence band exceeds zero), analogously to a test of a Pearson’s
correlation coefficient or the slope of a regression line.
Cross-spectral analyses used Splus 6 for Windows (Insightful
2002).
Entity and Attribute Information
Section
Index
Detailed Description:
Entity Type:
Entity Type Label: ScarData
Entity Type Definition: Access table
Attribute:
Attribute Label: AspectPoly
Attribute Definition: Aspect polygon within which tree
was found, varies by site
Attribute Domain
Values:
Range Domain:
Range Domain Minimum: 0
Range Domain Maximum: 247
Attribute:
Attribute Label: FireYear
Attribute Definition: Year which fire
recorded
Beginning Date of Attribute
Values: 1268
Ending Date of Attribute
Values: 1989
Attribute:
Attribute Label: ID
Attribute Definition: Row identification
number
Attribute:
Attribute Label: ScarNum
Attribute Definition: Grouping to which recorded scar
belongs
Attribute:
Attribute Label: TreeID
Attribute Definition: Tree identification
number
Detailed Description:
Entity Type:
Entity Type Label: TreeData
Entity Type Definition: Access table
Attribute:
Attribute Label: AgeStatus
Attribute Definition: Tree age status
Attribute Domain Values:
Enumerated Domain:
Enumerated Domain Value: 0
Enumerated Domain Value Definition: Prior to
Euro-American influence (1700-1900)
Enumerated
Domain Value: 1
Enumerated Domain Value
Definition: After Euro-American influence
(1901-1990)
Attribute:
Attribute Label: AspectPoly
Attribute Definition: Aspect polygon within which tree
was found, varies by site
Attribute Domain
Values:
Range Domain:
Range Domain Minimum: 0
Range Domain Maximum: 247
Attribute:
Attribute Label: BirthStatus
Attribute Definition: Tree birth status
Attribute Domain Values:
Enumerated Domain:
Enumerated Domain Value: 0
Enumerated Domain Value Definition: Prior to
Euro-American influence (1700-1900)
Enumerated
Domain Value: 1
Enumerated Domain Value
Definition: After Euro-American influence
(1901-1990)
Attribute:
Attribute Label: DBH
Attribute Definition: Tree diameter at breast
height
Attribute Domain Values:
Range Domain:
Range Domain Minimum: 0
Range Domain Maximum: 55
Attribute Units of Measure:
inches
Attribute:
Attribute Label: EarliestFire
Attribute Definition: Year of earliest fire
Beginning Date of Attribute Values: 1268
Ending Date of Attribute Values: 1958
Attribute:
Attribute Label: ID
Attribute Definition: Row identification
number
Attribute:
Attribute Label: InnerRing
Attribute Definition: Year of innermost
ring
Beginning Date of Attribute Values:
1184
Ending Date of Attribute Values:
1994
Attribute:
Attribute Label: LastFire
Attribute Definition: Year of last fire
Beginning Date of Attribute Values: 1530
Ending Date of Attribute Values: 1989
Attribute:
Attribute Label: OuterRing
Attribute Definition: Year of outermost
ring
Beginning Date of Attribute Values:
1646
Ending Date of Attribute Values:
2000
Attribute:
Attribute Label: ScarNum
Attribute Definition: Grouping to which recorded scar
belongs
Attribute:
Attribute Label: Species
Attribute Definition: Tree species
Attribute Domain Values:
Enumerated Domain:
Enumerated Domain Value:
PIPO
Enumerated Domain Value
Definition: Pinus ponderosa
Enumerated
Domain Value: PSME
Enumerated Domain
Value Definition: Pseudotsuga menziesii
Enumerated Domain Value: LAOC
Enumerated Domain Value Definition: Larix
occidentalis
Enumerated Domain Value:
THPL
Enumerated Domain Value
Definition: Thuja plicata
Attribute:
Attribute Label: Status
Attribute Definition: Tree status
Attribute Domain Values:
Enumerated Domain:
Enumerated Domain Value: 1
Enumerated Domain Value: 2
Enumerated Domain Value: 3
Enumerated Domain Value: 4
Attribute:
Attribute Label: TreeID
Attribute Definition: Tree identification
number
SMMS Metadata report generated
Friday, 26/March/2004