FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Distichlis spicata | Saltgrass 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Most fires consume the aboveground foliage of saltgrass.  


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Saltgrass survives fire by sending up new growth from rhizomes.
Increases in biomass following fire are common.  The aboveground
standing crop of saltgrass increased following a prescribed burn on
April 15, 1981, in a black greasewood/inland saltgrass habitat type in
eastern Oregon.  One year following this prescribed burn, the
aboveground standing crop of saltgrass averaged 550 grams per square
meter on burned plots, but only 398 grams per square meter on unburned
plots [88].  In the true prairie of eastern North Dakota, saltgrass
responded favorably to a prescribed burn on May 8.  Before the fire,
saltgrass frequency was 100 percent, and it remained at 100 percent
during the growing season following the fire [28].  Three months after
the fire on August 4, saltgrass aboveground biomass was greater on
burned plots (115.2 grams oven dry weight/m2) than unburned plots (76.8
grams oven dry weight/m2) [28].  Daubenmire [14] reported that a basin
wildrye-saltgrass stand in eastern Washington was burned annually for
many years by "clean-up crews" and that the plants remained healthy and
in high vigor.

On a Utah marsh where a dense stand of saltgrass was killed by a
combination of fire and flooding, some seedlings emerged from seed
stored in the soil [81].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
In many wildlife refuges, marsh vegetation is controlled by regulating
water levels of the marsh.  Although saltgrass rhizomes survive burning,
they will be killed if saltgrass sites are flooded following burning
[70].  Flooding after burning apparently kills saltgrass rhizomes by
preventing gas exchange.  Saltgrass is an important cover plant for
nesting waterfowl, and control is seldom warranted in waterfowl
production areas.

New growth following fire is higher in nutritive quality than unburned
plants.  Nutritional information concerning saltgrass plants sampled
before and after a September prescribed fire in a Utah marsh is
presented below [74]:

                      protein   ash   cellulose   hemicelulose  lignin

before burning, 4/81   11.68    9.19    30.13        32.99      11.14
after burning, 4/82    17.83   10.79    26.59        34.98      10.83

Related categories for Species: Distichlis spicata | Saltgrass