FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES : Ceanothus integerrimus | Deerbrush 


IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Mature deer brush is usually killed by fire [35].  A few plants may be
only top-killed [7,41].

Most soil-stored deer brush seed survives fire [14].  Seed in heavy duff
may be killed by moderate to intense fire.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
After soil-stored seed is scarified by fire, deer brush seedlings
establish in great numbers.  Most seedlings establish in the first
postfire growing season [14,22].  Natural thinning reduces seedling
density as the stand ages.  After a July 1942 wildfire consumed a deer
brush stand on the El Dorado National Forest, deer brush density was
about 300,000 seedlings per acre at postfire year 1; 10,000 per acre at
postfire year 10; 2,500 at postfire year 20; and less than a few hundred
seedlings at postfire year 30 [22].  A similar pattern occurred after a
"fairly intense" prescribed fire in a giant sequoia grove in Kings
Canyon National Park.  Burning was conducted in fall 1969.  No deerbrush
seedlings occurred on the unburned control plot.  Deerbrush seedling
establishment on burned plots follows [44].

         ____________________________________________________     
         | Plot           Size         Deerbrush seedlings  |
         |  no.        (hectares)       (no. per hectare)   |
         |__________________________________________________|
         |                            1970     1971     1972|
         |__________________________________________________|
         |   1            1.52        9,284    5,248     403|
         |   2            2.47       13,993    6,459     808|
         |   3            2.53          539      672     269|
         |__________________________________________________|
         | means                      7,939    4,127     494| 
         |__________________________________________________|

Arizona chaparral:  A dense stand of Pringle manzanita on the Tonto
National Forest was burned to reduce fire hazard, increase browse, and
increase water yield.  Shrubs were sprayed with 2,4-D prior to the fire
to increase their flammability. Deer brush was apparently absent from
the area prior to burning.  At postfire year 1, deer brush seedling
density was [60]:

_______________________________________________________________________
severe fire*     light-severity fire**    herbicide only   no treatment
    190                    0                    0                0 
_______________________________________________________________________
*leaves and twigs mostly consumed
**leaves and small twigs mostly intact

Deer brush sprouts from the root crown after fire, but sprouting
response may be weak [21,41].  Sprouts on older plants have been
observed to die in their first year even when watered in summer [87].
Park records from Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park note numerous sites
where deer brush seedlings occurred after fire, but only two sites where
sprouts were found after fire.  In sequoia-mixed conifer forest in
Sequoia National Park, deer brush sprouts occurred on 2 of 30 plots that
were prescribe burned in November.  After October wildland fire on the
same watershed, sprouts occurred on 2 of 6 plots [41].  If they survive,
deer brush sprouts may grow rapidly.  On a site on the Stanislaus
National Forest, deer brush sprouts grew 30 inches (75 cm) in the first
postfire year [22].  Data on long-term survival of deer brush sprouts
are lacking.

Frequent top-kill by fire or other disturbance (approximate fire return
interval of less than 4 years) can eliminate deer brush [21,22].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Deer brush fuels:  When deer brush is overtopped by trees, dead and
decadent deer brush in the understory can create a severe fuel hazard.
Repeated light-severity surface fires are needed to remove dead and
dying shrubs and to thin the developing understory of shade-tolerant
trees [75].

Fuel accumulation, fire frequency, and fire severity (as well as aspect,
soil type, and soil moisture) play major roles in determining patch size
and elevational limits of treeline and chaparral.  The transition zone
between mid-elevation Coulter pine forest and lower-elevation chaparral
is a dynamic mosaic of Coulter pine, oaks, deer brush, and manzanitas.
The mosaic contains so much dead and decadent deer brush, presumably as
a result of fire exclusion, that subsequent wildfires are expected to be
abnormally hot.  Severe fire is expected to kill Coulter pine and reduce
the oaks, thereby increasing chaparral coverage and raising the lower
limit of treeline [82].

In the Klamath Geographic Province of Oregon and California, deer brush
occurs in the moderate fuel type [7].

When prescribed burning in ponderosa pine with an understory of deer
brush and manzanita, Biswell [12] recommended broadcast burning in one
or more of three steps:  (1) broadcast burning; (2) in heavy timber,
piling coarse dead material by hand and burning; (3) in open areas,
crushing coarse dead material with a bulldozer and burning.  In order to
keep fire severity low, he recommended burning in fall, winter, or
spring when soil is thoroughly wet, and setting fires so that they burn
downhill.  Pine needles may be dry enough to carry fire within a day or
so after rain.  After broadcast burning, remaining coarse dead fuels are
piled in open areas within timber.  In areas open enough for a
bulldozer, the bulldozer can be used to crush the slash.  Slash is
broadcast burned after it is dry.

Broadcast burning was used on a brushfield on the El Dorado National
Forest to enhance forage for livestock and wildlife.  A dense deer brush
stand originated following a 1924 wildife in ponderosa pine and
incense-cedar.  By postfire year 18, browse was inacessible to
ungulates.  Small ponderosa pine and incense-cedar that survived the
previous fire were slashed to enhance fuels.  Prescribed burning was
conducted in July 1942 and resulted in "an intense fire that consumed
most of the plant material."  Deer brush seedling establishment and
survivorship was as follows [22]:

                  number of seedlings
                  ___________________ 
postfire year 1        300,000
postfire year 2        150,000
postfire year 8          1,500




FIRE CASE STUDIES : 
list of sub frames

Related categories for SPECIES : Ceanothus integerrimus | Deerbrush