Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Paleoecology and its application to fire and vegetation management in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia

  • Published:
Journal of Paleolimnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

High-resolution analysis of macroscopic charcoal and pollen ratios were used to reconstruct a 10,000 yr history of fire and vegetation change around Dog Lake, now in the Montane Spruce biogeoclimatic zone of southeastern British Columbia. Lake sediment charcoal records suggest that fire was more frequent in the early Holocene from 10,000 to 8200 calendar yrs BP, when climate was warmer and drier than today and forest fuels were limited. Fire frequency increased and reached its maximum during the early to mid-Holocene from 8200 to 4000 calendar yrs BP, corresponding to the dry and warm Hypsithermal period in the Rocky Mountains. During the Hypsithermal period forests around Dog Lake were dominated by Pseudotsuga/Larix,Pinus and open meadows of Poaceae that were subject to frequent fire. From 4000 calendar yrs BP to present, fires became less frequent with the onset of cooler and wetter Neoglacial climate and an increase in wet-closed Picea and Abies forests in the valley. Changes in fire frequency are supported by dry-open/wet-closed pollen ratio data indicating that forest type and disturbance regimes vary with changing climate. The fire frequency and forest cover reconstructions from Dog Lake are a first attempt at defining a range of natural variability for Montane Spruce forests in southeastern British Columbia. Fire and vegetation management in Kootenay National Park can now use this century to millennial-scale range of variability to define the context of current forest conditions and potential changes under global warming scenarios.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achuff, P. L., W. D. Holland, G. M. Coen & K. Van Tighem (eds), 1984. Ecological Land Classification of Kootenay National Park, British Columbia. Vol. I: Integrated Resource Description. Alberta Institute of Pedology Publication No. M-84-10.

  • Agee, J. K., 1993. Fire Ecology of the Pacific Northwest Forests. Island Press, Washington D.C. 493 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alley, R. B., P. A. Mayewski, T. Sowers, M. Stuiver, K. C. Taylor & P. U. Clark, 1997. Holocene climatic instability: a prominent, widespread event 8200 yr ago. Geology 25: 483–486.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, S. W., S. F. Arno & C. H. Key, 1991. Fire regimes of western larch-lodgepole pine forests in Glacier National Park, Montana. Can. J. For. Res. 21: 1711–1720.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartlein, P. J., M. E. Edwards, S. L. Shafer & E. D. Barker Jr., 1995. Calibration of radiocarbon ages and the interpretation of paleoenvironmental records. Quat. Res. 44: 417–424.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaudoin, A. B., 1986. Using Picea/Pinus ratios from the Wilcox Pass core, Jasper National Park, Alberta, to investigate Holocene timberline fluctuations. Géogr. Phys. Quat. 40: 145–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaudoin, A. B. & R. H. King, 1990. Late Quaternary vegetation history of Wilcox Pass, Jasper National Park, Alberta. Palaeogeog. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol. 80: 129–144.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, A. & M. F. Loutre, 1991. Insolation values for the last 10 million yrs. Quat. Sci. Rev. 10: 297–317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bessie, W. C. & E. A Johnson, 1995. The relative importance of fuels and weather on fire behaviour in subalpine forests. Ecology 76: 747–762.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bianchi, G. G. & I. N. McCave, 1999. Holocene periodicity in North Atlantic climate and deep-ocean flow south of Iceland. Nature 397: 515–517.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bond, G., W. Showers, M. Cheeseby, R. Lotti, P. Almasi, P. deMenocal, H. Priore, I. Cullen, G. Hajdas & G. Bonani, 1997. A pervasive millennial-scale cycle in North Atlantic and glacial climates. Science 278: 1257–1266.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brubaker, L. B., 1988. Vegetation History and Anticipating Future Change. In. Agee J. K. & D.R. Johnson (eds), Ecosystem Management for Parks and Wilderness. University of Washington Press, Seattle, pp. 41–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, I. D., C. Campbell, M. J. Apps, N. W. Rutter & A. B. G. Bush, 1998. Late Holocene ~1500 yr climatic periodicities and their implications. Geology 26: 471–473.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christoforou, P. & S. Hameed, 1997. Solar cycle and the Pacific 'centers of action'. Geophys. Res. Let. 24: 293–296.

    Google Scholar 

  • COHMAP Members, 1988. Climatic changes of the last 18,000 yrs: observations and model simulations. Science 241: 1043–1052.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. S., 1988. Particle motion and the theory of charcoal analysis: source area, transport, deposition, and sampling. Quat. Res. 30: 67–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. S. & P. D. Royall, 1995. Particle-size evidence for source areas of charcoal accumulation in late Holocene sediments of eastern North American lakes. Quat. Res. 43: 80–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. S. & P. D. Royall, 1996. Local and regional sediment charcoal evidence for fire regimes in presettlement northeastern North America. J. Ecol. 84: 365–382.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. S., T. Hussey & P. D. Royall, 1996. Presettlement analogs for late Quaternary fire regimes in eastern North America. J. Paleolim. 16: 79–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faegri, K. & J. Iversen, 1989. Textbook of Pollen Analysis, 4th Edn. John Wiley and Sons. Chichester, UK, 328 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fall, P. L., 1992. Pollen accumulation in a montane region of Colorado, USA: a comparison of moss polsters, atmospheric traps, and natural basins. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 72: 169–197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flannigan, M. D. & C. E. Van Wagner, 1991. Climate change and wildfire in Canada. Can. J. For. Res. 21: 66–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flannigan, M. D., Y. Bergeron, O. Engelmark & B. M. Wotton, 1998. Future wildfire in circumboreal forests in relation to global warming. J. Veg. Sci. 9: 469–476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grimm, E. C., 1993. TILIA v2.0 (computer software). Illinois State Museum, Research and Collections Centre, Springfield IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove, J. M., 1988. The Little Ice Age. Methuen, London, 498 pp.

  • Hallett, D. J., 1996. Paleoecological investigation of the montane ecoregion in the Kootenay Valley and its implications for ecosystem management. Masters Degree Project, Faculty of Environmental Design, The University of Calgary, Alberta, 111 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallett, D. J., L. V. Hills & J. J. Clague, 1997. New accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon ages for the Mazama tephra layer from Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, Canada. Can. J. Earth Sci. 34: 1202–1209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hazell, S., 1979. Late Quaternary vegetation and climate of Dunbar Valley, British Columbia. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Botany, University of Toronto. 101 pp.

  • Hebda, R. J., 1995. British Columbia vegetation and climate history with focus on 6 ka BP. Géogr. Phys. Quat. 49: 55–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hebda, R. J., 1998. Atmospheric change, forests and biodiversity. Environ. Mon. Assess. 49: 195–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hebda, R. J. & G. B Allen, 1993. Modern pollen spectra from west central British Columbia. Can. J. Bot. 71: 1486–1495.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jirikowic, J. L. & P. E. Damon, 1994. The medieval solar activity maximum. Climate Change 26: 309–316.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, E. A., 1992. Fire and vegetation dynamics: Studies from the North American boreal forest. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 129 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, E. A. & C. P. S. Larsen, 1991. Climatically induced change in fire frequency in the southern Canadian Rockies. Ecology 72: 194–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, E. A. & D. R. Wowchuk, 1993. Wildfires in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains and their relationship to midtropospheric anomalies. Can. J. For. Res. 23: 1213–1222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, E. A., G. I. Fryer & M. J. Heathcott, 1990. The influence of man and climate on the fire frequency in the Interior Wet Belt forest, British Columbia. J. Ecology 78: 403–412.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keane, R. E., S. F. Arno & J. K. Brown, 1990. Simulating cumulative fire effects in Ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests. Ecology 71: 189–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kearney, M. S., 1983. Modern pollen deposition in the Athabasca Valley, Jasper National Park. Botanical Gazette, 144: 450–459.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kearney, M. S. & B. H. Luckman, 1983. Postglacial vegetation history of Tonquin Pass, British Columbia. Can. J. Earth Sci. 20: 776–786.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kearney, M. S. & B. H. Luckman, 1987. A mid-Holocene vegetational and climatic record from the subalpine zone of the Maligne Valley, Jasper National Park, Alberta (Canada). Palaeogeog. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol. 59: 227–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kutzbach, J. E., P. J. Guetter, P. J. Behling & R. Selin, 1993. Simulated climate changes: results of the COHMAP climatemodel experiments. In Wright H.E., J.E. Kutzbach, T. Webb III, W.F. Ruddiman, F.A. Street-Perrott & P.J. Bartlein (eds), Global Climates of the Last Glaciation. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp. 24–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laird, K. R., S. C. Fritz, K. A. Maasch & B. F. Cumming, 1996. Greater drought intensity and frequency before AD 1200 in the Northern Great Plains, USA. Nature 384: 552–554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, H. H., 1977. Climate Present, Past and Future. Methuen, London. 835 pp.

  • Leonard, E. M. & M. A. Reasoner, 1999. A continuous Holocene glacial record inferred from proglacial lake sediments in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. Quat. Res. 51: 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lertzman, K., J. Fall & B. Dorner, 1998. Three kinds of heterogeneity in fire regimes: At a crossroads of fire history and landscape ecology. Northwest Sci. 72: 4–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, C. J., C. Whitlock, P. J. Bartlein & S. H. Millspaugh, 1998. A 9000-yr fire history from the Oregon Coast Range, based on a high-resolution charcoal study. Can. J. For. Res. 28: 774–787.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman, B. H., 1993. Glacial fluctuation and tree-ring records for the last millenium in the Canadian Rockies. Quat. Sci. Rev. 12: 441–450.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman, B. H., 1994. Evidence for climatic conditions between ca. 900–1300 A.D. in the southern Canadian Rockies. Climate Change 26: 171–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman, B. H., 1995. Calendar-dated, early 'Little Ice Age' glacier advance at Robson Glacier, British Columbia, Canada. The Holocene 5: 149–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman, B. H., 1998. Landscape and climate change in the central Canadian Rockies during the 20th century. The Canadian Geographer 42: 319–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman, B. H. & M. S. Kearney, 1986. Reconstruction of Holocene changes in alpine vegetation and climate in the Maligne Range, Jasper National Park, Alberta. Quat. Res. 26: 244–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman, B. H., G. Holdsworth & G. D. Osborn, 1993. Neoglacial glacier fluctuations in the Canadian Rockies. Quat. Res. 39: 144–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckman, B. H., M. S. Kearney, R. H. King & A. B. Beaudoin, 1986. Revised 14C age for St. Helens Y tephra at Tonquin Pass, British Columbia. Can. J. Earth Sci. 23: 734–736.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mack, R. N., V. M. Bryant & W. Fell, 1978. Modern forest pollen spectra from eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Botanical Gazette 139: 249–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mack, R. N., N. W. Rutter & S. Valastro, 1983. Holocene vegetational history of the Kootenai River Valley, Montana. Quat. Res. 20: 177–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, A., 1990. Changes in forest fire frequency in Kootenay National Park, Canadian Rockies. Can. J. Bot. 68: 1763–1767.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meidinger, D. & J. Pojar, 1991. Ecosystems of British Columbia. Special Report No. 6, British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Victoria, B.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merrill, D. F. & M. E. Alexander, 1987. Glossary of forest fire management terms. National Research Council. NRCC No. 26515, 91 pp.

  • Millspaugh, S. H. & C. Whitlock, 1995. A 750-yr fire history on lake sediment records in central Yellowstone National Park, USA. The Holocene 5: 283–292.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mullineaux, D. R., 1986. Summary of pre-1980 tephra-fall deposits erupted from Mt. St. Helens, Washington State, USA. Bulletin of Volcanology 48: 17–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nash, C. & E. A. Johnson, 1996. Synoptic climatology of lightningcaused forest fires in subalpine and boreal forests. Can. J. For. Res. 26: 1859–1874.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborn, G. & B. H. Luckman, 1988. Holocene glacier fluctuations in the Canadian Cordillera (Alberta and British Columbia). Quat. Sci. Rev. 7: 115–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owens, J. N. & S. Simpson, 1986. Pollen from conifers native to British Columbia. Can. J. For. Res. 16: 955–967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pellatt, M. G., R. W. Mathewes & I. R. Walker, 1997. Pollen analysis and ordination of lake sediment-surface samples from coastal British Columbia, Canada. Can. J. Bot. 75: 799–814.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pellatt, M. G., M. J. Smith, R. W. Mathewes & I. R. Walker, 1998. Palaeoecology of postglacial treeline shifts in the northern Cascade Mountains, Canada. Palaeogeog. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol. 141: 123–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, D. T. & M. J. Apps, 1996. Boreal forest responses to climatechange scenarios along an ecoclimatic transect in central Canada. Climatic Change 34: 179–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reasoner, M. A., 1993. Equipment and procedure improvements for a lightweight, inexpensive, percussion core sampling system. J. Paleolim. 8: 273–281.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reasoner, M. A. & M. Hickman, 1989. Late quaternary environmental change in the Lake O'Hara region, Yoho National Park, British Columbia. Palaeogeog. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol. 72: 291–316.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reasoner, M. A. & U. M. Huber, 1999. Postglacial palaeoenvironments of the upper Bow Valley, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. Quat. Sci. Rev. 18: 475–492.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryder, J. R. & B. Thompson, 1986. Neoglaciation in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia: Chronology prior to the late-Neoglacial maximum. Can. J. Earth Sci. 23: 273–287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smol, J. P., 1992. Paleolimnology: an important tool for ecosystem management. J. Aquat. Ecosys. Health 1: 49–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sprugel, D. G., 1991. Disturbance, equilibrium, and environmental variability: What is 'natural' vegetation in a changing environment. Biol. Conserv. 58: 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stager, J. C. & P. A. Mayewski, 1997. Abrupt early to mid-Holocene climatic transition registered at the equator to the poles. Science 276: 1834–1836.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuiver, M. & P. J. Reimer, 1993. Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35: 215–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugita, S., 1994. Pollen representation of vegetation in Quaternary sediments: theory and method in patchy vegetation. Ecology 82: 881–897.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swetnam, T. W., 1993. Fire history and climate change in giant sequoia groves. Science 262: 885–889.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swetnam, T. W. & J. L. Betancourt, 1998. Mesoscale disturbance and ecological response to decadal climatic variability in the American Southwest. J. Climate 11: 3128–3147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, R. S., C. Whitlock, P. J. Bartlein, S. P. Harrison & W. G. Spaulding, 1993. Climate changes in the western United States since 18,000 yrs BP. In Wright Jr., H. E, J. E. Kutzbach, T. Webb III, W. F. Ruddiman, F. A. Street-Perrott & P. J. Bartlein (eds), Global Climates Since the Last Glacial Maximum. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp. 468–513.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, N. J., 1991. Burning mountain sides for better crops: Aboriginal burning in British Columbia. Archaeology in Montana 32: 57–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vance, R. E., R. W. Mathewes & J. J. Clague, 1992. 7000 yr record of lake-level changes on the northern Great Plains: A highresolution proxy of past climate. Geology 20: 879–882.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vance, R. E., A. B. Beaudoin & B. H. Luckman, 1995. The paleoecological record of 6 Ka BP climate in the Canadian praire provinces. Géogr. Phys. Quat. 49: 81–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wainman, N. & R. W. Mathewes, 1987. Forest history of the last 12,000 yrs based on plant macrofossil analysis of sediment from Marion Lake, southwestern British Columbia. Can. J. Bot. 65: 2179–2187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. G. & M. D. Flannigan, 1997. Canadian boreal forest ecosystem structure and function in a changing climate: impact on fire regimes. Environ. Rev. 5: 145–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitlock, C. & S. H. Millspaugh, 1996. Testing the assumptions of fire-history studies: an examination of modern charcoal accumulation in Yellowstone National Park, USA. The Holocene 6: 7–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitlock, C. & P. J. Bartlein, 1998. Vegetation and climate change in northwest America during the past 125 kyr. Nature 388: 57–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitlock, C., J. P. Bradbury & S. H. Millspaugh, 1997. Controls on charcoal distribution in lake sediments: Case studies from Yellowstone National Park and Northwestern Minnesota. In Clark J.S., H. Cachier, J.G. Goldammer & B. Stocks (eds), Sediment Records of Biomass Burning and Global Change. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, pp. 367–386.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wotton, B. M. & M. D. Flannigan, 1993. Length of fire season in a changing climate. Forest. Chron. 69: 187–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, Z. & E. Ito, 1999. Possible solar forcing of century-scale drought frequency in the northern Great Plains. Geology 27: 263–266.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sceinces and the Institute for Quaternary Research, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada, V5A 1S6

    Douglas Hallett

  2. Lake Louise, Yoho & Kootenay, Box 220, Radium Hot Springs, BC, Canada, V0A 1M0

    Robert Walker (Parks Canada Fire & Vegetation Specialist)

Authors
  1. Douglas Hallett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Robert Walker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hallett, D., Walker, R. Paleoecology and its application to fire and vegetation management in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia. Journal of Paleolimnology 24, 401–414 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008110804909

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008110804909

Search

Navigation