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Finding aid for the Fire Monitoring and Fire Effects Records
SEKI 22368  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Biography / Administrative History
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Arrangement
  • Indexing Terms

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Fire Monitoring and Fire Effects records
    Dates: 1968-1999
    Collection number: SEKI 22368
    Creator: Sequoia National Park (Calif.). Division of Visitor, Fire and Resource Protection
    Collection Size: 13 linear feet.
    Repository: Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, Museum and Archives
    Three Rivers, CA 93271-9700
    Physical location: Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks. Ash Mountain Headquarters, Archive.
    Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English
    Abstract: Records generated within the organizational divisions of Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park concerning Park management, planning and development.

    Access

    Collection is open for research by appointment.

    Publication Rights

    Many collections are former federal government records and are in the public domain. Other collections are from private sources; copyright has been transferred to the NPS on most. Some collections have publication restrictions. Researchers are required to properly credit all materials used. The researcher assumes responsibility for acquiring copyright permissions when needed.

    Preferred Citation

    Fire Monitoring and Fire Effects records, SEKI 22368. Courtesy of the National Park Service, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks.

    Biography / Administrative History

    Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have been at the forefront of fire management and the evolution of National Park Service fire policy since the 1950s. Building on the research into the ecology of Giant Sequoia groves begun by Richard Hartesveldt in the mid-1960s, the Parks recognized that the exclusion of all fire was inhibiting Sequoia regeneration. An appreciation of the central role played by fire, the Parks were among the first in the Park service to reappraise its approach to fire management. In 1968, the Parks began both a prescribed burn and a let burn policy for selected fires ignited by lightning at higher elevation, where the risks for major conflagration were minimal. By the early 1970s, the Parks had begun to reintroduce fire to much of landscape, a complete reversal of nearly a hundred years precedent.
    The Parks' began monitoring the effects of fire on park ecosystems with the advent of the early, experimental burns of the late 1960s. The Fire Monitoring and Fire Effects crew was established in 1982 as a part of the Division of Resources Management to standardize these efforts. The fire monitoring effort was meant to document short-term effects, while the fire effects program was to document long-term effects. In the mid-1980s, a review of fire management brought attention to the new program. In the early 1990s, fire monitoring efforts were separated from fire effects so different skill sets could be emphasized. Around 2000, the fire monitoring program was placed under the authority of the Parks' fire management program.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    The collection consists of correspondence, reports, plans, field notes, and briefing papers.

    Arrangement

    The collection is organized into four series: Series I Correspondence; Series II Fire Monitoring Reports and Surveys; Series III Fire Management Program Planning; and Series IV Fire Management Program Review.

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
    Sequoia National Park (Calif.). Division of Visitor, Fire and Resource Protection.
    Fire testing--Sequoia National Park (Calif.)
    Fire management--Sequoia National Park (Calif.)
    Fire investigation--Sequoia National Park (Calif.)