An Analysis of Forest Fire History on the Little Firehole River Watershed, Yellowstone National Park

Abstract

Fire is now recognized as a major ecosystem process and Yellowstone National Park has recently implemented a fire management plan that permits lightning fires to burn without interference under certain conditions. To predict the kinds of wildfires we can now expect in the Park, and to evaluate the effectiveness of this plan in restoring fire to the Yellowstone ecosystem, it is important to know the natural frequency and size of wildfires under pristine conditions. This study, which began in 1977 and will be completed in June 1979, has the following objectives: (1) to determine the incidence and size of major fires during the last 300-400 years on the 100-km2 Little Firehole River watershed, an area dominated by extensive lodgepole pine and some spruce-fir forests; (2) to determine average fire frequency, i.e., the time interval between successive major fires on any particular site; and (3) to determine the relationships between stand age or successional stage and fuel accumulation or the probability of fire.