FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Gaultheria shallon | Salal 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Salal is described as a woody survivor [140].  Underground portions of
the plant commonly survive even when aboveground vegetation is consumed
by fire [16,57].  Portions of the stem base also survive many low
severity fires [57].  Hot burns on dry, shallow soil can result in
lethal heat penetration to underground regenerative structures [45].
"Moderate damage" has been reported after light burns [5].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Vegetative response:  Salal typically sprouts readily from the roots,
rhizomes, or stem base after light to moderate fires [5,16,79].  Fires
of light to moderate intensity stimulate sprouting, but more intense
fires can damage underground regenerative structure and reduce or
eliminate sprouting [45].

Seed:  Postfire reestablishment through seed appears to be relatively
unimportant in salal [47].

Postfire recovery:  Recovery of salal varies according to fire intensity
and severity [48].  Rhizome expansion can be rapid [136] or relatively
slow depending on the amount of damage received [57,140].  Plants are
often observed soon after fire [68,76,82] but may only develop slightly
during the first year [68].  Following a moderate burn in British
Columbia, salal was present during the first growing season and
increased in abundance by the third growing season [82].  However, few
plants were observed during the first growing season after an intense
fire in the same area [82].  By the 3rd year after this fire, only
small, scattered colonies of salal were present [82].  Bailey [8]
observed increases in cover by the 8th year after logging and fire in
western Oregon.  Salal can become dominant within 10 years after fire in
parts of British Columbia [102].  Salal can reach 2 to 3 feet (0.6-0.9
m) in height by the tenth growing season after fire [112].  Recovery was
documented as follows after logging and fire in the Oregon Coast Range
[122]:

                  before burn             1 year after burn
            orig.       seedlings         orig. stems       seedlings
            stems                         + sprouts
                             (# per acre)

N-aspect     250             0                640                 0
S-aspect   2,840             0             15,960                 0

Following fire in British Columbia, cover reached 18 percent after 2
years and had increased to 55 percent with 8 years [141].  However, 4
years after intense summer wildfires in the North Cascades of
Washington, cover of salal on two sites ranged from 0.7 to 1 percent
[93].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Timber harvest:  Evidence indicates that postfire recovery of salal on
some harvested sites may be delayed by slash-burning [94,131].  Recovery
may be particularly slow after hot slash burns on dry sites with shallow
soil [45].  Fire can thus be used to control salal on dry sites but is
often ineffective on wet sites [57].  Slash burning in Douglas-fir
plantations of eastern Vancouver Island reduced the height and cover of
salal while improving the nutrient status of Douglas-fir [131].  Often
the moderate fires that reduce salal produce a positive response in
conifer seedlings.  Where slash burning is contemplated, plots should be
burned immediately after timber harvest for best results.  Because slash
burns delay but do not eliminate salal, it is important that sites are
planted within 2 years after logging and fire [16].

While slash burns often aid conifer regeneration, in some locations
salal cover is not significantly reduced and competition remains a
considerable problem.  Factors such as site characteristics, community
composition, and fire intensity and severity are all important
influences.  In old growth Douglas-fir forests of the western Cascades,
salal may triple in cover during the first 5 years after logging and
slash burn as shown below [31]:

          1962       1963     1964     1965     1966     1967      1968
         before     1st yr.   1st yr.   
         logging    after     after
                    logging   slash burn

%cover     5.9       1.1       0.5     1.3      1.6       2.2       3.0
%freq.    20.2       5.8       4.0     5.8      6.4       7.7       9.5

Response of salal after timber harvest and subsequent slash burns has
been examined by a number of researchers [30,31,70,71,97,119,122,131,
140].

Related categories for Species: Gaultheria shallon | Salal