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Abstract
It may be impossible to overstate the complexity of relationships among wildland ecosystems, fires, and nonnative invasives. Strategies for managing these relationships are similarly complex; they require information on local plant phenology, ability to produce various levels of fire severity within burns, willingness to combine fire with other management techniques, and systematic monitoring to improve effectiveness. Oversimplification and short-sightedness in planning can lead to unintended degradation of the ecosystem; lack of monitoring may leave such consequences unnoticed and unaddressed. An inventory of the knowledge needed for planning an effective burning program could begin with the topics listed in table 4-1; managers need to understand the regeneration strategies and phenology of both target and desired species and their respective sensitivity to fire regime characteristics. Extensive information like this is currently available for only a few invasive species.
Parent Publication
Keywords
ecosystem,
fire effects,
fire management,
fire regime,
fire severity,
fuels,
grass/fire cycle,
invasibility,
invasiveness,
monitoring,
nonnative species,
plant community
Citation
Rice, Peter M.; Smith, Jane Kapler. 2008. Chapter 4: Use of fire to manage populations of nonnative invasive plants. In: Zouhar, Kristin; Smith, Jane Kapler; Sutherland, Steve; Brooks, Matthew L. Wildland fire in ecosystems: fire and nonnative invasive plants. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-42-vol. 6. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 47-60
