Response of southern Appalachian table mountain pine (Pinus pungens) and pitch pine (P. rigida) stands to prescribed burning

Abstract

Southern Appalachian table mountain pine (Pinus pungens) and pitch pine (P. rigida) forests require disturbance for regeneration. Lightning-ignited fires and cultural burning practices provided the disturbance that prehistorically and historically maintained these forests. Burning essentially ceased on public lands in the early twentieth century when fire suppression became the primary fire management initiative of federal land managers. The last five to six decades of forest succession in the absence of fire have allowed chestnut oak (Quercus prinus), scarlet oak (Q. coccinea), and red maple (Acer rubrum) to dominate both midstory and understory strata and to become poised to invade table mountain pine and pitch pine canopies. This study examined first-year responses of three 60-80-year-old southem Appalachian table mountain pine and pitch pine stands to prescribed fire. Prior to burning, mean canopy (woody stems ≥2.5 cm DBH), understory (all shrubs and saplings

Citation

Welch, N.T.; Waldrop, Thomas A.; Buckner, E.R. 2000. Response of southern Appalachian table mountain pine (Pinus pungens) and pitch pine (P. rigida) stands to prescribed burning. Forest Ecology and Management 136(2000) 185-197