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Track: Natural Resources and Conservation
Pamela J. Swantek
University of Arizona
USGS Cooperative Park Studies Unit
125 BioSciences East, Univ. of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
Telephone: 520-621-1174
Fax: 520-670-5001
E-mail: swantek@u.arizona.edu
William L. Halvorson, Cecil R. Schwalbe
The Use of GIS to Study Fire History in Vegetation Communities of Southeastern Arizona
Defining Issue: There is evidence that wildfire has begun to increase in frequency and size in Sonoran Desert vegetation communities due to the establishment of exotic annuals, consecutive wet winters, and urbanization. Fire's influence on plant community structure is poorly understood and may possess the ability to change present species composition, perhaps leading to local extinction of long lived perennials such as saguaro. GIS Solution: Creation of a multilayer GIS database of historical fire occurrences in Saguaro National Park as a means for analyzing fire history and providing managers with insight on the role of fire in the Arizona Upland. Methodology: A relational database containing attributes of all reported fires within Saguaro National Park between 1937 and 1996 has been linked with fire point and polygonal location themes. Visual display of these thematic layers summarizes changes in fire size, frequency, and distribution over time to determine how, if at all, fire is changing.
Associated attributes support queries to pinpoint factors whithatch may be influencing fire change. An Internet link will be established to allow this database to serve as an information resource, as well as to provide electronic forms by which other agencies can add their local fire histories. Software: The database was developed using Microsoft Access. Thematic layers were captured using workstation ArcInfo. Attributes were imported and joined with their respective georeferenced location in PC ArcView for application by National Park Service personnel. A Web page with data entry forms will be created with HTML.
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