Pre-wildfire management treatments interact with fire severity to have lasting effects on post-wildfire vegetation response

Abstract

Land managers are routinely applying fuel reduction treatments to mitigate the risk of severe, stand-replacing fire in ponderosa pine communities of the southwestern US. When these treatments are burned by wildfire they generally reduce fire severity, but less is known about how they influence post-wildfire vegetation recovery, as compared to pre-fire untreated areas. We re-measured existing plots on the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire 8 years after the wildfire to track plant community and exotic species response, as well as patterns of pine regeneration. We compared areas that experienced high- and low-severity burning, and also examined how pre-fire treatment (cutting in an uneven-aged harvesting system with prescribed fire) modified vegetation response. We detected persistent differences between low- and high-severity areas for nearly all variables measured. In high-severity areas overall understory plant cover was 40.6%, nearly three times that observed in low-severity areas; shrub cover was 18.4%, four and a half times greater than that observed in low-severity areas. We also detected significantly higher exotic forb cover in high-severity areas, although overall exotic response was generally quite low (

Citation

Shive, Kristen L.; Sieg, Carolyn H.; Fule, Peter Z. 2013. Pre-wildfire management treatments interact with fire severity to have lasting effects on post-wildfire vegetation response. Forest Ecology and Management. 297: 75-83.