Effects of two prescribed fires on red maple regeneration across four levels of canopy cover

Abstract

Oak species have maintained an important role in eastern U.S. forests for the last 8,000 years. Intense changes in land use and disturbance regimes brought on by European settlement helped oak persist and expand its range through the 1800s. Mixed-oak forests persist as the predominant forest type in present-day eastern forests, but very little oak recruitment into the overstory has occurred since the implementation of fire suppression in the early 1900s. Advanced oak regeneration on high-quality and some intermediate-quality sites is being replaced in the midstory by more mesic, shade-tolerant species. Red maple (Acer rubrum) is often the most frequently occurring competitor on upland oak sites in much of the eastern United States. Current thinking is that reintroduction of representative fire regimes into eastern oak systems may help promote oak recruitment and impede the development of red maple competition. Brose and Van Lear (1998) found that red maple was controlled most effectively with spring and summer burns, when carbohydrate reserves in the rootstocks are low and fi re intensities tend to be higher. Burns of lower intensity present less potential hazard, but several low-intensity burns may be necessary to achieve the same results as a single, high-intensity burn.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings, 17th Central Hardwood Forest Conference

Citation

DeBord, William W.; Buckley, David S.; Sharik, Terry L.; Hartman, Jason P.; Henning, Jason G. 2011. Effects of two prescribed fires on red maple regeneration across four levels of canopy cover. In: Fei, Songlin; Lhotka, John M.; Stringer, Jeffrey W.; Gottschalk, Kurt W.; Miller, Gary W., eds. Proceedings, 17th central hardwood forest conference; 2010 April 5-7; Lexington, KY; Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-78. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 665-668.