KUCHLER TYPE FIRE ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
KUCHLER TYPE: Conifer bog



FUELS, FLAMMABILITY, AND FIRE OCCURRENCE : 
In years of average precipitation, bogs are usually too wet to burn
[12].  During drought years, however, bog surfaces can be dry enough to
support fire [9].  In northen Minnesota peatlands, many conifer bogs
dominated by black spruce burned in the same fires that consumed
adjacent uplands [15].

Fire Frequency:  Fire is ubiquitous in the boreal forest region.
Cogbill [6] estimated that the mean fire return interval in central
Quebec, averaged over all forest types, is about 100 years.  He also
estimated an increase in fire frequency as a result of human activities
including logging and fire suppression; the average age of the sites he
sampled was 72 years.  Conifer bogs burn less frequently than upland
sites.  The ages of trees in conifer bogs were mostly between 80 and 140
years and no stand was over 217 years old, indicating that fire
frequency is on the order of 100-200 years [6].


FIRE EFFECTS ON SITE : 
High-severity fire may result in a substantial loss of peat [9].


FIRE EFFECTS ON VEGETATION : 
Immediate Effects of Fire:  Tamarack, black spruce, and northern
white-cedar are all easily damaged by fire.  In peatlands, tamarack is
usually killed by all but extremely low-severity fire [19].  Northern
white-cedar is susceptible to fire damage due to its thin bark, high oil
content, and shallow roots.  Low-severity fire damages roots [20].
Gates [11] reported large areas in northern lower Michigan conifer bogs
where black spruce had been killed by fire.

Postfire Vegetation Establishment:  Lowland conifers establish well on
burned organic soils as long as a seed source is available.  Fire in
peatlands usually results in rapid establishment of black spruce from
seed.  Black spruce cones are semi-serotinous and are held high in the
crown.  Fire-killed stands of black spruce usually have sufficient
viable seed to establish dense even-aged stands [31].  Central Quebec
postfire stands of black spruce had achieved 60 percent of total
recruitment in the first 30 years after a fire [6].  Closed stands with
a fire-free interval of more than 100 years are uneven aged due to
reproduction by layering in canopy gaps [31].  Dense seedling stands of
tamarack are sometimes established in burned or otherwise disturbed
areas on bogs, forming even-aged postfire stands [10,11].

Sprouting of understory species depends on fire severity and the depth
of perennating tissues.  Small cranberry, bog-rosemary, sheep-laurel,
leatherleaf, bog Labrador tea, and rhodora are typically the first
species to appear on burned bogs [12].  Flinn and Wein [12] reported the
mean depth of underground reproductive tissues for common bog species in
New Brunswick.  Cottongrasses and pitcherplant had average depths of 5.2
inches (13 cm) for reproductive tissues (as measured from the moss
layer).  Depths of reproductive tissues of shrubby species ranged as
follows:

                                     
                                 inches  (cm) 
small cranberry                 8.8-13.2 (22-33) 
bog-rosemary                    7.5-14.6 (19-37) 
sheep-laurel                    6.2-14.2 (16-36) 
leatherleaf                     8.3-14.9 (21-38) 
bog Labrador tea               18.1-18.9 (46-48) 
rhodora                             18.5 (47)

Severe fire and substantial peat loss may lead to the development of an
open bog-sedge community rather than establishment or reestablishment of
black spruce or other lowland conifers.  On very dry burned peat,
quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) and paper birch may establish in
place of lowland conifers; succession is then similar to that of upland
sites [9].


FIRE EFFECTS ON RESOURCE MANAGEMENT : 
Fire alters habitat for birds.  In the Seney National Wildlife Refuge,
Michigan, birds present in mature black spruce stands included Cape May
warbler, magnolia warbler (Dendroica magnolia), ovenbird (Seiurus
aurocapillus), and golden-crowned kinglet; none of these species was
found in an adjacent 19.7 acre (8 ha) plot that had been burned by
wildfire.  The burned plot had many snags.  Birds that were present on
the burn included white-throated sparrow, chipping sparrow, dark-eyed
junco, American robin (Turdus migratorius), yellow-rumped warbler,
Nashville warbler, black-backed woodpecker, three-toed woodpecker,
winter wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), and brown creeper [9].

Postfire increases in berry-producing plants including blueberries,
raspberries (Rubus spp.), juneberries (Amelanchier spp.), and cherries
(Prunus spp.) provide abundant fruit for black bear (Ursus americanus)
for 2 to 20 years following fire [15].

Red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) are immediately displaced by fire
but are found in maturing fire-established black spruce stands.  Spruce
grouse are dependent on black spruce habitats but are not limited to
bogs [15].


FIRE USE CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Prescribed fire is used after timber harvest to improve seedbed
conditions for black spruce regeneration [1].


REHABILITATION OF SITES FOLLOWING WILDFIRE : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Kuchler Type: Conifer bog