KUCHLER TYPE FIRE ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
KUCHLER TYPE: Pocosin



FUELS, FLAMMABILITY, AND FIRE OCCURRENCE : 
Lowering of the water table for agriculture and silviculture has
increased the frequency of dry periods and, therefore, increased fire
frequency [2].  Fires once per decade may cause the deciduous overstory
to be replaced by pond pine with a cane (Arundinaria spp.) understory.
More frequent fires promote shrubs and shrubby trees such as sweetbay,
redbay, dog-laurel (Leucothe spp.), and greenbrier.  Annual fires
eliminate shrubs and create savannahs of grasses, sedges (Carex spp.),
and herbs [17].

Pocosins have highly combustible fuels and deep, peaty soils.  Fires can
"blowup" in the volatile evergreen vegetation, especially where needle
drape provides continuity of ladder fuels [16].  Fires can be severe in
peaty soils; severity may be related to depth of water table at the time
of burning [14].
 
Commonly, weights of fine fuels in pocosins of North Carolina are 15
tons per acre.  Under extreme drought this figure can double when peats
dry out to depths of 1 to 2 feet (0.3-0.6 m) [16].  Pocosin fuels have
been classified based on species composition, height, and density.  A
key is available for identifying fuel types.  Each type is described in
terms of total weight and potential fire behavior.  Blowup potential in
open, low pocosin is rated as low; in dense, low pocosin as medium; in
high pocosin as medium-high [18].


FIRE EFFECTS ON SITE : 
When fires burn the peat layer down to the water table they can create
small lakes in shallow burned-out depressions [2].

Nutrient availability following fires in oligotrophic ecosystems of the
Southeast, including pocosins, has been examined [3,6].  Detailed lists
of available nutrients and soil physical properties following prescribed
burning in the Coastal Plain of South Carolina are available [11].
Burns in peat soils have been shown to enhance nutrient availability and
increase plant production.  However, nutrient levels usually return to prefire
conditions during the second postfire growing season [19].


FIRE EFFECTS ON VEGETATION : 
Pocosin fires are usually intense, consuming most or all of the
aboveground biomass [2].  These fires do not usually kill plant roots.
Sprouting shrubs include loblolly-bay, gallberry (Ilex spp.), redbay,
fetterbush, and titi.  Pond pine is also fire-adapted, sprouting from
the bole and branches following fire.  Young pond pine also sprout from
the root crown.  If roots are killed, sprouting will not occur, but a
seedbed will be prepared for pond pine seeds from serotinous cones [18].

A severe wildfire in late March burned 29,300 acres (11,860 ha) of
pocosins and related communities in coastal North Carolina.  At times
fireline intensity averaged 18,000 Btu/sec/foot.  More than 20,000 acres
(9,000 ha) of pond pine were defoliated.  Following this fire, a lower
than expected percentage of 13-year-old pond pine sprouted from the bole
because of the high intensity of the fire, but many trees sprouted from
the root crown.  No quantitative information on survival or sprouting
was available [16].

An early May fire in a South Carolina pocosin was prescribed to promote
natural regeneration of pond pine, remove the understory, and reduce the
fire hazard.  The fire was considered "successful."  Estimated pond pine
mortality was only 3 percent.  Eight weeks following the fire an average
of 8,000 seedlings per acre was present [15].

The effects of fire after 20 years of experimental burning in the pine
forests of the Coastal Plain were examined.  There was no specific
reference to pocosins, but it is possible that pockets of pocosin
communites were included.  Plots were burned annually in summer,
annually in winter, periodically in summer, periodically in winter, and
biennially in summer.  Plots burned annually in summer showed the
smallest amount of woody cover, while the greatest amount was on plots
burned periodically.  Inkberry showed significant (p<5%) decreases when
burned annually in winter compared with unburned and periodically burned
plots [10].

Atlantic white-cedar needs disturbance like fire to establish, but
severe fires may consume the peat layer, killing seeds.  Quickly moving,
low intensity fires may not reduce competition from other vegetation
sufficiently to allow cedar to establish.  Once established Atlantic
white-cedar persists only in the absence of fire [4].


FIRE EFFECTS ON RESOURCE MANAGEMENT : 
Fire can set back timber harvest in some areas [16].  Prescribed fire
may be beneficial to red-cockaded woodpeckers by releasing loblolly pine
stands [7].  Inkberry produces valuable food for wildlife.  Its fruit
production may drop in the first postfire years, but peaks 3 years
following fire [9].


FIRE USE CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Because of the high flammability of pocosins, frequent prescribed burns
are recommended to reduce fire hazard [16].  Nine guidelines for
prescribed burning in pocosins have been listed [15].


REHABILITATION OF SITES FOLLOWING WILDFIRE : 
NO-ENTRY

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