Finding aid for the Fire Monitoring and Fire Effects Records
Ward Eldredge, Anna Uremovich, Tammy Fishman, Alyson Mazzone, Bekah Piche, Allison Metzler
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
© 2011
47050 Generals Highway
Three Rivers, CA 93271-9700
Phone: (559) 565-3133
Fax: (559) 565-3133
Email: Ward_Eldrege@nps.gov
URL: http://www.nps.gov/seki
National Park Service, Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP. All rights reserved.
Finding aid for the Fire Monitoring and Fire Effects Records
Collection number: SEKI 22368
Museum and ArchivesSequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
Three Rivers, California
- Processed by:
- Ward Eldredge, Anna Uremovich, Tammy Fishman, Alyson Mazzone, Bekah Piche, Allison Metzler
- Date Completed:
- August 2011
- Encoded by:
- Tammy Fishman
© 2011 National Park Service, Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP. All rights reserved.
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.
Collection is open for research by appointment.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
Folder 001-052
Folder 053-336
Series 2. Monitoring reports and surveys 1972-2007 1977, 1985
Folder 337-356
Folder 357-398
Series 4. Fire management program review 1980-1992 1984-1987
Series Scope and Content Summary
In the mid-1980s, public concern over the Parks' use of prescribed fire as a means of maintaining the ecological health of
forest ecosystems lead to the cessation of all prescribed burning in the National Park Service. A panel was convened to review
the Parks' fire management program in an attempt to balance public concern with resource benefit.
The series consists of reports, policies, proceedings, and public comments relating to the Parks' fire management program,
particularly its use of prescribed fire as a resource management tool
Chronological.