Late Holocene high-resolution paleoenvironmental reconstruction from Beaver Lake in the northwest lowlands of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington (USA)

Abstract

Fire is an essential component of the landscapes and forests of the Pacific Northwest, including the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula. Previous fire history reconstructions from the peninsula show that fire return intervals varied throughout the postglacial period, primarily in response to climatic changes and corresponding shifts in vegetation. However, much less is known about the fire history of the low-elevation forests of the Olympic Peninsula and the role of cultural fire regimes in these environments. The purpose of this study was to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental history of a low-elevation study site, Beaver Lake, located in the northwestern part of the peninsula. Using macroscopic charcoal, pollen, and sedimentological analyses of a ca. 3440-year-long record, we reconstructed a high-resolution record that shows fire activity was remarkably high during the late Holocene for an area considered part of a temperate rainforest. However, patterns of burning varied throughout the record, with the first third (ca. 3440 to 2350 cal yr BP) and last third (ca. 800 cal yr BP to the present day) recording much higher amounts of fire activity compared to the middle portion (ca. 2350 to 800 cal yr BP), which recorded very little fire activity. Larger and/or more severe fires that likely burned during multi-year droughts correlate with peaks in magnetic susceptibility and pollen trends that indicate substantial geomorphic responses and successional changes in forest structure following these events. Cooler temperatures and a wetter climate, indicated by nearby glacial advancements, may have staved off fire activity during the period of low fire activity. Cultural burning by the Indigenous tribes of the Olympic Peninsula likely contributed to the observed fire activity at Beaver Lake as nearby prairies were managed for resource procurement, indicated in particular by an increase in herbaceous morphotype charcoal during the past 800 years.