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You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Plant Species > Shrub > Species: Juniperus ashei | Ashe Juniper
 

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FIRE EFFECTS

SPECIES: Juniperus ashei | Ashe Juniper
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : Ashe juniper seedlings are easily killed by low-severity fires. Hot fires can kill large Ashe juniper trees [50,56]. Scorching 60 percent of the crown will kill most Ashe juniper trees [44]. DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : NO-ENTRY PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : Colonization of burned areas occurs through seed dispersed by birds or mammals, or by seed that survived fire. It can take 10 to 40 years for Ashe juniper to establish stands that are over 4 feet (1.2 m) tall [33,50]. DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : NO-ENTRY FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : Dead Ashe juniper trees are highly volatile fuels and must be treated with caution. Firebrands can carry up to 400 feet (120 m), depending on conditions, and can ignite spot fires, especially where there is a preponderance of highly flammable dried animal dung. Prescribed burning is rarely used alone on mature Ashe juniper stands, as there is usually not enough fine fuel to carry fire [34,52]. Wright and Bailey [53], however, list it as a technique to convert dense stands into more open stands. Chained stands are the easiest to burn; herbicide-treated or treedozed stands can also be successfully burned [34,52,53]. In order to carry fire to ignite piles and burn seedlings, it is generally recommended that there be a minimum of 1,000 pounds per acre (1,120 kg/ha) of fine fuels, and 2,000 pounds per acre (2,240 kg/ha) of continuous fine fuel is optimal [34,50,52,53]. The lower figure is not sufficient if it consists of bunchgrasses. Plots consisting of dozed or chained Ashe juniper piles interspersed with grasses and Ashe juniper seedlings may be safely burned with a headfire into a 500 foot (150 m) fireline under certain conditions [9,34,52,53]. Dalrymple [11] reported 100 percent mortality of individuals less than 2 feet (0.6 m) and 77 percent mortality of trees from 2 to 6 feet (0.6-1.8 m) tall after a prescribed fire in Oaklahoma. Less than 25 percent of trees taller than 6 feet (1.8 m) were killed. Juniper (Juniperus spp.) trees in open stands can be individually ignited and burned using propane or oil burners [44]. Some authors recommend windrowing of larger trees rather than dozing for achieving crown fires. With windrows, six trees are burned for every tree pushed into standing tree lines [6,8]. Good tree to tree spread of fire does not occur unless the trees are less than 26 feet (8 m) apart [6]. Since leaf moisture is one of the most important variables for satisfactory burning, Engle and Stritzke [12] tested the proposition that an aerial application of paraquat could reduce foliage water content and increase crown scorch during broadcast fires in tallgrass prairie. They found that the leaf water content was significantly lower (p < 0.0001) for all applied levels of paraquat, and that large trees were more damaged by the paraquat plus fire treatment than by fire alone (p < 0.0319). They conclude that paraquat can be used as a dessicant to promote crown fires in closed-canopy stands of Ashe juniper. One of the major environmental concerns about the use of prescribed fire for rangeland management is increased soil loss caused by the removal of vegetation. Wright and others [54] tested the effect prescribed burning of Ashe juniper had on erosion and found that for very gentle slopes (1 to 4 percent grade), there was very little soil loss, but on moderate (15 to 29 percent) or steep (45 to 53 percent) slopes the losses increased greatly. The amount and duration of soil loss depended largely on vegetative cover and slope. The negative effects of burning Ashe juniper can be mitigated by artificially seeding moderate and steep slopes. With adequate precipitation, the resulting ground cover can reduce the amount of time needed to stabilize soils from 18 months to 3 months on steep slopes. Total stabilization (i.e. return to pretreatment levels of soil loss) can be reduced from 42 months to 6 months, again with adequate precipitation [54]. A 10- to 40-year interval between prescribed fires is recommended to maintain control of Ashe juniper; a general rule of thumb is to burn when Ashe juniper trees are 4 feet (1.2 m) tall [33,34,38,53].

Related categories for Species: Juniperus ashei | Ashe Juniper

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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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