Rustler Park - USRPK001 Additional Site Information Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Mariette Seklecki, and Thomas W. Swetnam Dating Method: Crossdated Sample Storage Location: Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA Reference: Seklecki, M.T., Grissino-Mayer, H.D., Swetnam, T.W. 1996. Fire history and the possible role of Apache-set fires in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. In: Ffolliott, P.F., DeBano, L.F., Maker, Jr., M.B., Gottfried, G.J., Solis-Garza, G., Edminster, C.B., Neary, D.G., Allen, L.S., and Hamre, R.H., tech. coord., Effects of Fire on Madrean Province Ecosystems: A Symposium Proceedings. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report RM 289: 238-246. Swetnam, T. W. and C. H. Baisan. 1996. Fire histories of montane forests in the Madrean Borderlands. In P. F. Ffolliott et al. tech. coords., Effects of fire on Madrean Province Ecosystems, A symposium proceedings, USDA Forest Service General Technical Report RM-GTR-289: 15-36. Swetnam, T. W., Baisan, C.H. and J. M. Kaib. 2001. Chapter 7: Forest fire histories in the sky islands of La Frontera. In G. L. Webster and C. J. Bahre eds., Changing Plant Life of La Frontera: Observations on Vegetation in the United States/Mexico Borderlands. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque: 95-119. Abstract: (Seklechi et al., 1996) Fire history was reconstructed for the Rustler Park area of the Chiricahua Mountains and compared with the historical and documentary record of Apache presence to interpret possible associations between the Apaches and fire occurrence. Dendrochronological techniques were used to crossdate and analyze samples from 63 fire-scarred trees, resulting in a tree-ring reconstruction of fire history that extended from 1644 to 1995. The fire chronology exhibited unusually high fire frequency relative to most other Southwestern fire chronologies (approximately one fire every three years between 1700 and 1900). A greater proportion of dormant season scars (late winter or spring fires) than observed elsewhere in the Southwest may indicate a greater occurrence of human- set fires. Specific key events in borderlands history were also concurrent with temporal changes in the Chiricahua fire chronology. For example, fire occurrence increased between 1760 and 1786 when Apaches waged an aggressive war against the Spanish, but decreased following 1786 when peace was established. While the hypothesis of important Apache alteration of fire regimes in the Rustler Park area was supported by concurrence with the documentary record and temporal patterns of fire occurrence, we could not conclusively distinguish the Apache influence from,other factors regulating fire regimes, especially climate. Fire History Graphs: Fire History Graphs illustrate specific years when fires occurred and how many trees were scarred. They are available in both PDF and PNG formats. The graphs consist of 2 parts, both of which show the X axis (time line) at the bottom with the earliest year of information on the left and the latest on the right. The Fire Index Plot is the topmost plot, and shows two variables: sample depth (the number of recording trees in each year) as a blue line along the left Y axis, compared with the percent trees scarred shown as gray bars along the right Y axis. Below, the Fire Chronology Plot consists of horizontal lines representing injuries by year on individual sampled trees. Symbols are overlain that denote the years containing the dendrochronologically-dated fire scars or injuries. The sample ID of each tree is displayed to the right of each line. The Composite Axis below represents the composite information from all individual series. The symbols used to represent the fire scars or injuries, and the filters used to determine the composite information, are shown in the legend. These graphs were created using the Fire History Analysis and Exploration System (FHAES). See http://frames.nbii.gov/fhaes/ for more information.