FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Chimaphila umbellata | Prince's Pine 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Prince's pine has a moderate to high probability of being killed by fire
[40,76].  Low-severity fires that do not consume the organic mantle may
only top-kill it.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Postfire response of prince's pine is variable and is probably most
dependent on fire severity and the uniformity of the burn.  Some studies
have reported prince's pine surviving fire.  In mixed western
hemlock-Douglas-fir-western redcedar (Thuja plicata) stands in North
Cascades National Park, Washington, prince's pine was considered a
residual species following a July wildfire.  Its frequency in postfire
years 1, 2, and 3 was 65.3, 52.1, and 52.1 percent, respectively [54].

Prince's pine appeared to survive on moderately burned sites following
the Waterfalls Canyon Fire in Grand Teton National Park in July, 1974,
but was eliminated from severely burned sites.  The prefire vegetation
was spruce-fir with lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and whitebark pine
(P. albicaulis).  Prince's pine had the following percent frequency and
cover as measured in 1975 [10]:

                         Frequency     Cover
______________________________________________
Unburned sites              52           5
Sites burned in 1932         2         trace
Moderately burned sites     17           1
Severely burned sites        0           0  

In the northern Rocky Mountains, slow recovery after fire has been
reported.  Prince's pine was eliminated from initial postfire
communities by a severe wildfire in western larch (Larix
occidentalis)-Douglas-fir stands on the Flathead National Forest,
Montana [75].  In western larch-fir (Abies grandis and A. lasiocarpa)
stands on the Flathead and Lolo National Forests, Montana, prince's pine
had not recovered by postfire year 9 following logging and broadcast
burning [74].  Prince's pine was also absent 10 months after a
late-summer wildfire in lodgepole pine stands in the Chamberlain Basin,
Idaho.  It was found on adjacent unburned sites and was present on
burned sites 5 years after the fire, but had less biomass production
than on unburned sites [61].

Variable responses to fire have been reported for prince's pine in
Minnesota.  It survived the Little Sioux Wildfire in May, 1971, in mixed
conifer-hardwood stands in northeastern Minnesota.  Number of
individuals (on seventy 0.605 sq m plots) and aboveground average dry
weight per individual prince's pine were measured at the end of each
growing season for the first 5 postfire years [58]:

                       1971     1972      1973     1974     1975
________________________________________________________________
No. of individuals      15     no data     57       30        7
Ave. dry wt. (g)       .07     no data    .33      .29      .46

Prince's pine responded more slowly after wildfires in second-growth
mixed conifer-hardwood forests in northeastern Minnesota.  It was not
present in postfire years 3, 5, or 14 after the April Heartlake Fire.
It was not present on the Kelley Creek Burn, resulting from a July fire,
at postfire year 2 but had a frequency of 3 percent in postfire years 5
and 11 [48].




DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Prince's pine is a component in many subzones in which guidelines for
prescribed burning and tree species selection have been developed in the
Vancouver Forest District, British Columbia [46].

Related categories for Species: Chimaphila umbellata | Prince's Pine