FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Bromus carinatus | California Brome 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
California brome is top-killed by fire.  In the Pacific Northwest, it
routinely survives fall burning of pastureland and sprouts from
surviving root crowns the next growing season [89].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
California brome appears to recover from fire within a few years.  It
was one of three grasses to establish in the first 2 years after
stand-replacing wildfire in twoneedle pinyon-Utah juniper woodland in
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado [22].

Recovery of California brome seems to be similar after both early- and
late-season burning.  Data on effects of summer burning are not
available.  Neither spring nor fall prescibed fire after logging had
much effect on California brome cover in northern Idaho.  After
shelterwood cutting in a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest on the
Priest River Experimental Forest, two prescribed fires were set to
reduce fuels:  a June 1, 1989, fire on moist duff (moist burn), and a
September 13 and 14, 1989, fire on dry duff (dry burn).  California
brome percentage cover a year before logging and at postfire year 1 was
as follows [71]:

Control (no burn)         Moist Burn             Dry Burn
------------------    ------------------     ------------------
prefire | postfire    prefire | postfire     prefire | postfire
--------|---------    --------|---------     --------|---------
  0.7   |   1.4         0.4   |   1.6          0.3   |   0.3

Similarly, early fall prescribed burning in pure quaking aspen and mixed
quaking aspen-conifer forests had little effect on California brome.  In
mixed forests on the Caribou National Forest of Idaho and the
Bridger-Teton National Forest of Wyoming, California brome was
categorized as providing 5 percent or less cover on both burned and
unburned plots at postfire years 1 and 2.  In pure quaking aspen on the
Caribou and Bridger-Teton National Forests, California brome was
categorized as providing from 6 to 25 percent cover on burned and
control plots at postfire years 1 and 2 [9].

California brome was significantly reduced (p = 0.05) for at least 1
year by spring prescribed fire in southwestern Montana.  Average basal
cover of California brome in the first postfire growing season was 0.55
sq dm/sq dm on burned plots and 0.72 sq dm/sq dm on unburned plots [60].
                         
Season of burning affected California brome dominance on the Helena
National Forest of Montana.  A year after fall prescribed fire in a
mountain big sagebrush/Kentucky bluegrass community, California brome
was codominant with Kentucky bluegrass.  After spring prescribed fire
in the same community, dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) was codominant
with Kentucky bluegrass [69].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Postfire seeding:  California brome is sometimes seeded in after fire
and often establishes good cover.  It can help stabilize soil after fire
but may preclude establishment of other species including conifers
[66,75].  Steele and Geier-Hayes [75] stated that seeding was not
necessary on conifer/pinegrass types where good pinegrass cover was
present before fire.

California brome developed good coverage following postfire seeding on
two Douglas-fir/ninebark (Physocarpus malvaceus) habitat types in
central Idaho.  In northern Idaho, California brome coverage on several
seeded burn sites varied from "vigorous" to "poor."  Fall seedings
resulted in better grass coverage than spring seedings [72].  Fall
seeding on prescribed burned ponderosa pine sites in north-central
Washington resulted in good California brome coverage [85].

Prescribed fire in quaking aspen/California brome:  Bradley and others
[6] describe a quaking aspen/California brome community type that
appears to be maintained by long-term grazing.  Fire is difficult to
sustain in this type due to discontinuity of fuels.  Rate of spread may
be one-tenth that of ungrazed stands.  Quaking aspen/grass types will
not sustain fire spread unless flame lengths are 1 to 1.5 feet (0.3-0.5
m), which requires at least 50 percent cured herbaceous vegetation [10].

Brown and others [8] found that time of year was a simple, reliable
indicator of moisture content of herbaceous fuels, including California
brome, in quaking aspen understories.  In a quaking aspen/western
coneflower (Rudbeckia occidentalis) community type on the Bridger-Teton
National Forest, Wyoming, perennial grasses in the understory cured at a
slow, steady rate beginning early in the growing season.  Dominant
understory grasses measured for seasonal change in moisture content
included California brome, blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus), and slender
wheatgrass.  Gradual curing of perennial grasses occured in both 1981, a
dry summer, and 1982, a wet summer.  Moisture content of grasses
corresponded "reasonably well" to the National Fire Danger Rating System
(NFDRS) [18] during mid- to late summer.  In contrast, forb moisture
content decreased slowly in early summer, then accelerated rapidly.
Forb moisture content related poorly to the NFDRS, fluctuating through a
much greater range of moisture contents than allowed by the NFDRS model
[8].

Prescribed fire in sagebrush/California brome:  Fire spread may be
difficult to obtain in mountain big sagebrush/California brome or other
mountain big sagebrush/grass types due to wide spacing of shrubs and
mesic conditions [36].

Related categories for Species: Bromus carinatus | California Brome