Eco-cultural Management Implications of California Hazelnut Treatment with Wild and Prescribed Fire: A Case Study in Northern California
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The tribal nations of northwest California are restoring their practice of cultural prescribed burning to facilitate the regeneration of basket-making materials, medicines, and food. Among the cultural foods are California hazelnut nuts (corylus cornuta var. californica). California hazelnut nut production was hypothesized to improve through the application of fire at certain points in the development of hazelnut stands and the biological communities surrounding them. In order to investigate the effect of fire on California hazelnut nut productivity, multiple 100 m2 sampling plots were created within areas where wildfires or prescribed burns had occurred, and areas where they have not occurred in >13 years. In those plots, precipitation, nuts per shrub, solar access of individual shrubs, stem diameter, number of stems, among other relevant factors in nut production were measured. Time since last fire (TSLF) was later calculated based upon CalFire fire perimeter maps. Monitoring areas were identified through the local knowledge of Tribal and United States Forest Service staff. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) indicate that the number of nuts produced by individual hazelnuts varied based on interactions between solar access and TSLF. Based on the results of this study, there are multiple ways to manage hazelnut shrubs in order to optimize nut production for cultural food usage. Future studies need to focus on the correlation between fire regime factors and the prevalence of other cultural resources in order to determine the most economically efficient way of applying fire to tribal and public lands.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | 2020 |
| Date modified | December 5, 2022 |
| Publication date | September 21, 2021; May 8, 2020 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Saiz, Gabriel |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor | Vitousek, Peter |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Earth Systems Department |
Subjects
| Subject | Fire |
|---|---|
| Subject | Wildfire |
| Subject | Tribal Governance |
| Subject | Cultural Resources |
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Thesis |
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Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Saiz, Gabriel. (2020). Eco-cultural Management Implications of California Hazelnut Treatment with Wild and Prescribed Fire: A Case Study in Northern California. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/nv511sq0335
Collection
Undergraduate Honors Theses, Doerr School of Sustainability
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- Contact
- gasaiz1997@gmail.com
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