Oak Woodlands
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Fire In Oaks
Oak
woodlands have burned for thousands of years. Native people burned
the oak woodlands throughout California for many reasons. Often their
fires were purposeful and directed to manage particular species. Certainly
lightning fires in the coastal oak woodlands and those along the Sierra
Nevada were common, and could burn for hundreds of miles if conditions
were right. With the arrival of Europeans, fires were suppressed. After
200 years of fire suppression, and with warmer summer temperatures and
drier years, fires have become frequent and large in California woodlands.
Oaks in California have been able to live with
fire.Fire can kill the tops of seedlings and sapling. But mature trees are resistant
to the quick heat of a grassland fire underneath them. They may look dead, but
often in a year or so, the branches sprout new leaves. Saplings and seedlings
sprout again the first year after a fire, and even first-year seedlings can resprout.
These sprouts can grow far faster than the original seedlings, and so can often
grow up and past the cattle and deer "browse line". In some places, especially
where a stand of mature blue oak all appear to be of the same age, they may have
been the result of a fire. In other places, blue oak recover poorly, if at all
from fire. This seems to vary with genetic background. Thus, a cool fire should
be planned in an oak woodland if one does not know how the seedlings and saplings
may respond.
References:
Borchert, Mark I.; Davis, Frank W.; Michaelson, Joel; Oyler, Lynn Dee. 1989. Intractions of factors affectting seedling recruitment of blue oak (Quercus douglasii) in California. Ecology. 70(2): 389-404.
Frost, William E. 1989. The Ellis Ranch project: a case study in controlled burning. No. 891002. Fresno, CA: California Agricultural Technology Institute and the San Joaquin Experimental Range. 11 p.
Griffin, James R. 1977. Oak woodland. In: Barbour, Michael G.; Malor, Jack, eds. Terrestrial vegetation of California. New York: John Wiley and Sons: 383-415.
Griffin, James R. 1980. Sprouting in fire-damaged valley oaks, Chews
Ridge, California. In: Plumb, Timothy R., technical coordinator. Proceedings
of the symposium on the ecology, management, and utilization
of California oaks; 1979 June 26-28; Claremont, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-44.
Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific
Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station: 216-219.
Haggerty, Patricia K. 1991. Fire effects in blue oak woodland. In: Standiford, Richard B., technical coordinator. Proceedings of the symposium on oak woodlands and hardwood rangeland management; 1990 October 31 - November 2; Davis, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-126. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station: 342-344.
Koenig, Walter D.;
Mumme, Ronald L. 1987. Acorn production by five species of oaks over
a seven year period at the Hastings Reservation, Carmel Valley, California.
In: Plumb, Timothy R.; Pillsbury, Norman H., technical coordinators.
Proceedings of the symposium on multiple-use management of California's
hardwood resources;
1986 November 12-14; San Luis Obispo, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-100. Berkeley,
CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and
Range Experiment Station: 429-434.
McClaran, Mitchel P.; Bartolome, James W. 1989. Fire-related recruitment in stagnant Quercus douglasii populations. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 19: 580-585.
Muick, Pamela C.; Bartolome, James W. 1987. Factors associated with oak regeneration in California. In: Plumb, Timothy R.; Pillsbury, Norman H., technical coordinators. Proceedings of the symposium on multiple-use management of California's hardwood resources; 1986 November 12-14; San Luis Obispo, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-100. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station: 86-91.
Timbrook, Jan. 1990. Ethnobotany of Chumash Indians, California, based on collections by John P. Harrington. Economic Botany. 44(2): 236-253.