SGER: Fire Regimes in the Tallgrass Prairie/Crosstimbers Interface: Towards a Fuller Understanding of Grassland and Forest Dynamics

Oklahoma State University, Stillwater OK

Investigators

Abstract

Recent management activities of The Nature Conservancy in Osage County, Oklahoma have created a novel and short-lived opportunity to gain understanding of longterm grassland and forest dynamics in this region. During the summer of 2005, The Nature Conservancy cleared hundreds of live old-growth trees along the border of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. The PI will salvage and study cross-sectional disks from the bases of these trees for two purposes. First, an examination of their cross sections can be used to provide the first fire history of this region prior to human settlement. Obtaining a fire history is of interest because the maintenance and persistence of the regional grasslands is thought to depend on fire, yet the frequency and intensity of such fires is unknown. Second, an analysis of the post-fire responses of the two dominant oak species represented among these trees may help to identify the mechanisms that have allowed their long-term coexistence. The broader impacts of this project include the training of undergraduate and graduate students in the detection, measurement, and interpretation of fire histories from tree rings and fire scars. The PI will develop a special course on these methods. The research activities include the production of several hundred polished tree disks, which are an attractive and effective educational tool. Some of these will be donated along with educational material to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, the Osage County Historical Society Museum, and to the Osage Tribal Museum. Outreach activities include contact with Osage Tribe elders, to learn about traditional views of fire use in the Flint Hills region.