Fire history and pattern in a Cascade Range landscape

Fire history from years 1150 to 1985 was reconstructed by analyzing forest stands in two 1940-hectare areas in the central-western Cascade Range of Oregon. Serving as records for major fire episodes, these stands revealed a highly variable fire regime. The steeper, more dissected, lower elevation Cook-Quentin study area experienced more frequent fires (natural fire rotation = 95 years) that were commonly low to moderate in severity. The Deer study area, with its cooler, moister conditions and gentler topography, had a regime of less frequent (natural fire rotation = 149 years), predominantly stand-replacement fires. Fires created a complex mosaic of stands with variable date and severity of last burn. Fire-created forest patches originating in 1800-1900 are mostly less than 10 hectares. Since 1900, very little of the study areas burned, possibly because of fire suppression