Fire is an important part of maintaining some ecosystems but it can also be a catalyst for change. An illustration of this are the small but persistent shrub patches that dot pine forests across the Southwest US. These shrub patches were created by high-severity fires that killed the canopy, thus allowing resprouting species, such as Gambel oak to establish. But just how long these shrub patches can persist has not been clear.

Chris Guiterman and I used tree-rings and soil charcoal to identify the timing of high-severity fires that established three of the largest shrub patches in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. You can read more about it here.