FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Arctostaphylos viscida | Whiteleaf Manzanita 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Intense fire kills whiteleaf manzanita [13].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Fire-activated seeds germinate during the first postfire growing season
[13,22,23].  Seedling success rates are good.  Whiteleaf manzanita
stands are dense by postfire years 3 or 4 [24], and generally remain so.
Nine years following a fire in Yuba County, California, the combined
density of whiteleaf manzanita and its codominant, deerbrush (Ceanothus
integerrimus), was 6,523 plants per acre (16,118/ha) [33].  By postfire
year 10, these dense stands of whiteleaf manzanita have reached sexually
maturity [12].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Timber and grazing:  Annual prescribed burning can convert whiteleaf
manzanita brushfields to timber or pastureland if the site is otherwise
suitable.  Yearly fires prevent whiteleaf manzanita seedlings from
maturing and gradually reduce the residual seed stock.  Eventually,
whiteleaf manzanita is eradicated from the site [20,26].  Safe
conditions exist for a late winter or early spring burning if each of
these elements is within the following range [19]:

                  Element                       Intensity
                                              low       high

          fuel stick moisture (%)              15         5
          relative humidity (%)                58        26
          wind speed (mi/h)                     0        10
          air temperature (degrees F)          40        84        

Fire suppression:  Fire suppression in whiteleaf manzanita chaparral
results in unnaturally high fuel levels.  This eventually results in
severe wildfires that are extremely difficult to contain.  Prescribed
burning is recommended for reducing fuel loading in whiteleaf manzanita
communities [20].
   

Related categories for Species: Arctostaphylos viscida | Whiteleaf Manzanita