CHAPTER 18 Fire Management and Policy Since European Settlement S C OTT L STE P H E N S AN D N E I L G S U G I HARA Everywhere and from the earliest times humans have altered the natural fire regimes they have encountered PYNE Since European explorers first touched the shores of California their activities shaped by their needs and values have changed the state s fire regimes Fire regime changes have resulted directly and indirectly from a variety of human activities At times these influences have been unintentional consequences of other land management activities in other instances they have been well planned and even codified All of the activities that have affected fire regimes are considered here as fire management but only those that have been intentionally and formally adopted by society are considered fire policies Formal fire policy since European settlement is a response to society s and institutions views of fire These change as human relationships with the land natural resources and fire change Our understanding of the historical relationships between fire and society is greatly enhanced if we review the setting in which that society existed It is common for us to blame our current fire situation on the shortcomings and lack of perspective of past land managers But this is rarely the case The needs and values of society were the driving force of past policies and those needs and values have changed and will continue to change In this chapter we discuss the activities and events that have had the greatest effect on fire in California why they occurred and how they influenced fire regimes et al 1996 other European explorers visited the coast of Upper California until Francis Drake and his party landed at Drakes Bay near what is now called Point Reyes in 1579 The first overland journey that extended far into the state was not made until 1769 when Gaspar de Portola s expedition discovered San Francisco Bay These early explorers were motivated by discovery conquest and the pursuit of riches The voyages were challenging and landings were difficult and very few Most of this early discovery was merely a view from off shore These explorers were not settlers and had little long term contact with the land people or ecosystems that they discovered So why as fire ecologists do we care about their exploits Because their visits had unintended long lasting and important influences on California fire regimes The first significant impacts on fire regimes that the European civilization brought to California actually predate the arrival of large scale permanent settlers by over a century The impacts were the introduction of the human diseases that decimated the populations of indigenous peoples and the introduction of plants from other parts of the world Although both of these impacts involved the expansion of the historic ranges of biological organisms they had very different mechanisms for influencing fire regimes Both of these actions were inadvertent but were to have enormous impacts on California ecosystems that continue to the present European Exploration Era The earliest European explorers to visit California came by ship The discovery of Alta upper California by European explorers is generally credited to Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who sailed up the coast from Baja lower California in 1542 Following his death at San Miguel Island in January of 1543 his crew continued to explore northward reaching what is now southern Oregon They could make no landings north of Point Conception and eventually returned to Mexico No Removal of Native American Fire Use Manipulation of fire by Native Americans had many important impacts on the character and geographic distribution of California s fire regimes and greatly modified fire as an ecological process Anderson 2005 The removal of the Native Americans and their fire use had variable effects on California s ecosystems Although there was little or no change to ecosystems where fire was very rare or where fire regimes 431 were not altered by the activities of the Native Americans there was often a profound change on ecosystems in the areas where they actively managed with fire including many oak woodlands montane meadows coastal grasslands and coniferous forests These ecosystems now supported a different burning pattern replacing the specific pattern of Native American ignitions and lightning with a new combination of settler burning and lightning Coastal areas experience little lightning and fire regimes in these areas were dominated by anthropogenic ignitions Keeley 2005 Stephens and Fry 2005 Stephens and Libby 2006 Removal of anthropogenic fire from these ecosystems has brought about wholesale changes in species composition by encroachment of invasive species conversion to other vegetation types and increased fire hazards van Wagtendonk 1996 Stephens 1998 2004 Stephens and Fule 2005 Stephens and Moghaddas 2005 Introduction of Invasive Non Native Plant Species The introduction of non native invasive plant species began when the explorers visited the California coast during the 1500s and 1600s The establishment of the Jesuit Missions in the late 1700s with their livestock and horticultural activities greatly accelerated the establishment and expanded the ranges of nonnative grasses and forbs in California Menke et al 1996 Cattle ranching in California began on the coast in 1769 when the Spanish brought about 200 head of cattle to San Diego By 1823 livestock grazing was an established activity to various degrees at all 21 missions At its peak the missions may have had more than 400 000 cattle grazing one sixth of California s land area In the Central Valley grazing by domestic livestock was light until after the gold rush In 1860 the U S Census reported nearly a million beef cattle not including open range cattle just over a million sheep and 170 000 horses in California As range quality declined sheep ranching gained in favor with a peak of 5 7 million animals in 1880 Barbour et al 1993 Among the newly introduced plants were several species that were adapted to the rangelands in the mediterranean climates of southern Europe They had invasive habits and rapidly out competed the native species in many of the plant communities especially those dominated by herbaceous plants Changes in climate over the last centuries could also have influenced plant community responses and composition Millar and Woolfenden 1999 Many of California s grasslands and