Abstract

Tree-ring fire scars, tree ages, historical photographs, and historical surveys indicate that, for centuries, fire played different ecological roles across gradients of elevation, forest, and fire regimes in the Taos Valley Watersheds. Historical fire regimes collapsed across the three watersheds by 1899, leaving all sites without fire for at least 119 years. Historical photographs and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) ages indicate that a high-severity fire historically burned at multiple high-elevation subalpine plots in today’s Village of Taos Ski Valley, with large high-severity patches (>640 ha). Low-severity, frequent (9–29-year median interval) surface fires burned on the south aspects in nearby lower elevation dry conifer forests in all watersheds. Fires were associated with drought during the fire year. Widespread fires commonly burned synchronously in multiple watersheds during more severe drought years, preceded by wet years, including fire in all three watersheds in 1664, 1715, and 1842. In contrast, recent local “large” wildfires have only burned within single watersheds and may not be considered large in a historical context. Management to promote repeated low-severity fires and the associated open stand structures is within the historical range of variability in the dry conifer forests of these watersheds. In the high-elevation, subalpine forests, different management approaches are needed, which balance ecological and socioeconomic values while providing public safety.

Highlights

  • The Taos Valley and Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico contain a complex mix of natural and cultural resources that present challenges similar to those faced by fire and natural resource managers across western North America

  • There is some historical evidence of large, high-severity fires (>1000 ha) prior to 1900 in the subalpine forests of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains [1] but not in the Taos Valley Watersheds

  • Fire scars were mostly abundant on dry, south- and southwest-facing aspects between 2500–2800 m, which is where we located our fire-scar plots

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Summary

Introduction

The Taos Valley and Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico contain a complex mix of natural and cultural resources that present challenges similar to those faced by fire and natural resource managers across western North America. These resources include a large range of elevations and ecosystems that spans the lower to upper tree line and includes the tallest mountain in New Mexico, Wheeler Peak (4011 m); multiple federally designated Wilderness areas; Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO world heritage site continuously inhabited for over eight centuries; Taos Ski Valley (both the village and the ski resort); the forested watersheds of three perennial streams that are vital local water sources; and many rural communities located within and adjacent to the forest that depend directly on the ecosystem services provided by these natural resources, as well as the indirect benefits of tourism. It is not clear if frequent, surface fires, which are common in warmer, drier conifer

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