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You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Plant Species > Shrub > Species: Artemisia californica | California Sagebrush
 

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FIRE EFFECTS

SPECIES: Artemisia californica | California Sagebrush
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : Light-severity fire top-kills California sagebrush; severe fire causes plant mortality [45,84,86]. The effect of moderate-severity fire is not well documented. Shallowly buried seed is often killed by fire [50]. DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : NO-ENTRY PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : Because California sagebrush seeds are fire sensitive and their seedbank numbers moderate, seedling density may by low in the first postfire year [41,50]. California sagebrush seedling density following a wildfire in chamise chaparral near Pasedena was 0.25 per square foot (2.69/sq m), while density in adjacent unburned chaparral was 0.34 per square foot (3.67/sq m) [83]. Seedling recruitment is usually good after the first postfire year. Population buildup is most rapid when fires are not severe and top-killed plants consequently sprout. Sprouts usually flower at postfire year 1, although flowering is sometimes delayed until postfire year 2 [42,84,86]. Seed resulting from sprout flowering, in addition to windblown seed disseminated to burn areas, results in favorable seedling establishment beginning at postfire year 2 or 3. Sauer [74] reported a California sagebrush seedling frequency of 12 percent in Big Sycamore Canyon 3 years following the Mugu Fire in the Santa Monica Mountains. He also reported a frequency of 12 percent for seedlings 3 years after the nearby Topanga-Tuna Canyon Fire. Crown density recovers to preburn levels by postfire year 10 in coastal sage scrub unless the site is poor or severe soil erosion occurs [38]. In a study comparing adjacent coastal sage scrub and bigpod ceanothus-dominated chaparral communities at postfire year 26, Gray [20] found that 33 percent of California sagebrush in coastal sage scrub appeared to have resulted from crown sprouting, while 10 percent of California sagebrush in chaparral appeared to have done so. All California sagebrush plants in the chaparral community were dead. Density of California sagebrush in coastal sage scrub was 0.012 plants per square foot (0.13/sq m). DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : California sagebrush seedlings may sprout when aboveground portions of seedlings are damaged. Coastal sage srub and chaparral communities rarely burn in consecutive years, but unusual circumstances may trigger this plant response. Germination of California sagebrush seed following an arsonist-set fire on August 1979 on Otay Mountain, San Diego County, resulted in a seedling density of 0.24 plants per square foot (2.62/sq m) at postfire year 1. In July 1980, another arsonist-set fire occurred at the same site. Fifteen percent of California sagebrush seedlings established after the 1979 fire sprouted following the 1980 fire [92]. FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : Fire suppression in coastal sage scrub has been generally successful during summer months but not during extreme conditions of high temperature accompanied by Santa Ana winds in fall. In areas where fire suppression has been successful yearround, delayed burning has resulted in the burning of abnormally large areas during the abovementioned weather conditions [49]. In other areas, fire intervals have increased due to human-caused fires. Because coastal sage scrub is generally closer to developed areas than is chaparral, it is more vulnerable to accidentally- and arsonist-set fire. Analysis of the fire history of coastal sage scrub on Burton Mesa near Lompoc revealed that all of the 27 fires occurring between 1938 and 1986 were started by humans. Only eight of these fires were prescribed. The wildfires occurred in fall and spread in the direction of southwesterly-blown Santa Ana winds. These wildfires were arrested or extinguished at roads, fields, or firebreaks [13]. Zedler [89] stated that the current high fire frequencies of some coastal sage scrub communities may not be natural and that some suppression may be neccessary in these areas to restore presettlement ecological conditions. The long-term effect of fire suppression on California sagebrush and other coastal sage scrub species is unclear. Some authorities suggest that coastal sage scrub under the public domain is expanding in size by invasion into adjacent communities. Epling and Lewis [15] state that California sagebrush and other coastal sage scrub species are successfully invading chaparral dominated by sprouting species because unusually hot, stand-replacing fires occurring as a result of fuel buildup have killed such sprouting species. Thomas [77] reported that California sagebrush in coastal sage scrub of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area is invading adjacent valley oak (Quercus lobabta) woodland. A computer model, however, indicates that the shortened fire frequencies common to many coastal sage scrub areas will result in the disappearance of California sagebrush and other weakly sprouting, nonobligate seeders from that community. This model suggests that given a fire interval of 30 years or less, California sagebrush will be absent from coastal sage scrub after 100 years. There is therefore some concern that California sagebrush may be declining in numbers [49]. Field studies comparing area of expansion and decline of coastal sage scrub because of fire are lacking. Modern fire regimes may result in no net loss of coastal sage scrub or California sagebrush. Managers practicing prescribed burning should be aware, however, that California sagebrush populations may require longer fire intervals than have been proposed for hazard reduction [49]. Because of the less intense heat generated by spring burning of coastal sage scrub and chaparral [22], it may be the most favorable season in which to burn California sagebrush if consequent sprouting is desired. Special measures such as seeding may eventually be neccessary following burning during other seasons in order to insure continuance of California sagebrush populations. Firebreaks and fuelbreaks are easily constructed in coastal sage scrub, and are easily maintained by mechanical, herbicide or other treatment [49]. In a 4-year study, Green and Newall [24] successfully used goats to control growth of California sagebrush and other plants on fuelbreaks on the Los Padres National Forest. Considerations for development of a fire prescription in coastal sage scrub and chaparral communities are available in the literature [22,23].

Related categories for Species: Artemisia californica | California Sagebrush

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Information Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System

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