FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Cornus sericea | Red-Osier Dogwood 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Aboveground foliage of red-osier dogwood is usually killed by fire.
However, the roots will survive all but the most severe fires which
remove the duff and heat the upper soil for extended periods [38].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Red-osier dogwood generally increases following fire [1,18,39,106], and
it may invade a recently burned area from adjacent unburned areas [38].
It may take some time before resprouting red-osier dogwood regains its
former cover and volume.  A Montana study in aspen found that 2 years
after prescribed burning red-osier dogwood resprouts had attained 72
percent of their prefire cover and 54 percent of their prefire volume,
while density was back to prefire levels [161].

In moist forests of British Columbia, red-osier dogwood appears to
increase in abundance following logging and burning [32,50].  It
established in a logged and burned Manitoba black spruce (Picea mariana)
stand by the fifth postfire year [18].  On Minnesota black spruce sites
most fires stimulate sprouting of red-osier dogwood, although severe
fires favor tree seedlings [1].  A study in the cedar-hemlock (Thuja
spp.-Tsuga spp.) zone of northern Idaho found no red-osier dogwood in
closed stands.  It established with very slight frequency (1%) in logged
stands without fire; somewhat higher frequency (5%) in areas with both
single and multiple broadcast burns; and highest frequency (12%) in
areas that were piled and burned [94].  In a northwestern Montana
subalpine fir/queencup beadlily (Abies lasiocarpa/Clintonia uniflora)
habitat type, red-osier dogwood cover was highest (15%) in stands that
had burned 35 to 70 years ago and very low in clearcuts (0-1.4%) whether
dozer piled or not [156,157].

In Wisconsin shrub-carrs (wet ground tall-shrub communities) light to
medium fires cause resprouting in red-osier dogwood and serve to
maintain the shrub-carr [149].  Following prescribed burning in central
Wisconsin shrub-invaded sedge meadows, red-osier dogwood resprouted and
was favored over other shrubs [162].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
In the northern Rockies red-osier dogwood is a common member of the
seral brushfields which occur following fire and compete with tree
seedlings [98,109].  In order to reduce brushfields on sites that are
away from streams and floodplains, the use of logging methods which
cause a relatively high amount of site disturbance followed by a fire
which removes most of the soil organic horizons is recommended [109].
In northwestern Montana, clearcutting alone apparantly dislodged enough
roots of red-osier dogwood so that few plants were able to sprout
[156,157].

Postfire sprouts in the early stages of growth are the most valuable for
beaver [103,152].  Following fire in Minnesota, red-osier dogwood became
more important to moose and white-tailed deer, even though it grew only
near streams and was not abundant within the burn [65].

Related categories for Species: Cornus sericea | Red-Osier Dogwood