• FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS
• POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY

FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:

Idaho fescue is a small bunchgrass that can survive light-severity fires. It is usually harmed by more severe fire [35,52,253,309]. Fires burning at 10- to 25- year intervals have neutral to negative effects on Idaho fescue [2]. Rapid tillering occurs when root crowns are not killed and soil moisture is favorable [145,231]. Plants may re-establish from seed after fire if temperatures are low enough to allow for survival of seed [59,294]. 

Native ranges and forests in which Idaho fescue occurs have historically been subjected to fires at varying intervals. Native Americans were probably an important ignition source in prehistoric Idaho fescue grasslands [2]. Maintenance of grasslands in the Intermountain West is dependent, in part, on periodic fires to remove dry matter and invading shrubs and trees [9,12,47,49,159,216]. A decrease in or loss of dominant seral species such as Idaho fescue due to fire exclusion has been noted in many areas [113].    

The following table provides some fire regime intervals for communities in which Idaho fescue occurs:

Community or Ecosystem	Dominant Species	Fire Return Interval Range in Years
silver fir-Douglas-fir	Abies amabilis-Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii	> 200
grand fir	A. grandis	35-200
California chaparral	Adenostoma and/or Arctostaphylos spp.	< 35 to < 100
sagebrush steppe	Artemisia tridentata/Pseudoroegneria spicata	20-70 [41]
basin big sagebrush	A. t. var. tridentata	12-43 [238]
mountain big sagebrush	A. t. var. vaseyana	5-15 [312]
Wyoming big sagebrush	A. t. var. wyomingensis	10-70 (40)** [290,312]
coastal sagebrush	A. californica	< 35 to < 100
cheatgrass	Bromus tectorum	< 10
California montane chaparral	Ceanothus and/or Arctostaphylos spp.	50-100 [41]
curlleaf mountain-mahogany*	Cercocarpus ledifolius	13-1000 [14,242]
mountain-mahogany-Gambel oak scrub	C. l.-Quercus gambelii	< 35 to < 100
California steppe	Festuca-Danthonia spp.	< 35
western juniper	Juniperus occidentalis	20-70
Rocky Mountain juniper	J. scopulorum	< 35
western larch	Larix occidentalis	25-100
Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir	Picea engelmannii-Abies lasiocarpa	35 to > 200
black spruce	P. mariana	35-200
pinyon-juniper	Pinus-Juniperus spp.	< 35
whitebark pine*	P. albicaulis	50-200 [41]
Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine*	P. contorta var. latifolia	25-300+ [11,234]
Colorado pinyon	P. edulis	10-49
Jeffrey pine	P.  jeffreyi	5-30
western white pine*	P.  monticola	50-200
Pacific ponderosa pine*	P.  ponderosa var. ponderosa	1-47
Rocky Mountain ponderosa pine*	P.  p. var. scopulorum	2-10 [41]
quaking aspen (west of the Great Plains)	Populus tremuloides	7-120 [41,114,190]
mountain grasslands	Pseudoroegneria spicata	3-40 (10)** [11]
Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir*	Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca	25-100 [41]
coastal Douglas-fir*	P.  m. var. menziesii	40-240 [41,201,230]
California oakwoods	Quercus spp.	< 35
oak-juniper woodland (Southwest)	Q.-Juniperus spp.	< 35 to < 200
western redcedar-western hemlock	Thuja plicata-Tsuga heterophylla	> 200
western hemlock-Sitka spruce	T.  heterophylla-Picea sitchensis	> 200 [41]

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

POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY [258]:

Tussock graminoid
Secondary colonizer (on-site or off-site seed sources)

Related categories for SPECIES: Festuca idahoensis | Idaho Fescue