• FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS
• POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY

FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:

Perennial needlegrasses tend to be among the least fire resistant bunchgrasses [63,64] due, in part, to their densely tufted stems [66]. Columbia needlegrass is, however, only slightly to moderately damaged by fire [64], probably because it has relatively few culms per clump which may help to minimize the amount of subsurface heat transfer and subsequent damage.

The Colorado pinyon-oneseed juniper/Columbia needlegrass habitat type in the Lincoln National Forest of New Mexico may be maintained by relatively frequent, low-severity, surface fires [26]. Here Columbia needlegrass is not only a climax species, but it is also observed in areas with fairly recent burns.

Fire regimes for plant communities in which Columbia needlegrass occurs are summarized below. For further information regarding fire regimes and fire ecology of communities where Columbia needlegrass is found, see the Fire Ecology and Adaptations section of the FEIS species summary for the plant community or ecosystem dominants.

Community or Ecosystem	Dominant Species	Fire Return Interval Range in Years
basin big sagebrush	Artemisia tridentata var. tridentata	12-43 [41]
mountain big sagebrush	A. t. var. vaseyana	5-15 [65]
Wyoming big sagebrush	A. t. var. wyomingensis	10-70 (40)** [57,65]
California montane chaparral	Ceanothus and/or Arctostaphylos spp.	50-100
Rocky Mountain juniper	Juniperus scopulorum	< 35
pinyon-juniper	Pinus-Juniperus spp.	< 35
Colorado pinyon	P. edulis	10-49 [8]
Rocky Mountain ponderosa pine*	P. ponderosa var. scopulorum	2-10 [8]
quaking aspen (west of the Great Plains)	Populus tremuloides	7-120 [8,17,32]
mountain grasslands	Pseudoroegneria spicata	3-40 (10)** [1]
Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir*	Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca	25-100 [8]

*fire return interval varies widely; trends in variation are noted in the species summary
**(mean)  

POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY [47]:

Tussock graminoid
Initial off-site colonizer (off-site, initial community)

Related categories for SPECIES: Achnatherum nelsonii | Columbia Needlegrass