FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Juglans major | Arizona Walnut 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Arizona walnut is probably killed by fire.  Wildfire in a central
Arizona riparian woodland killed mature Arizona walnut [7].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Very little is known about the response of Arizona walnut to fire.
Although no report of Arizona walnut sprouting was found in the
literature, other Juglans species sprout after fire.  Following
top-kill, surviving small or young trees or saplings of butternut (J.
cinerea) and black walnut (J. nigra) may sprout from the root collar or
higher on the trunk [58,59].  The age of sprouting individuals was not
mentioned for southern California walnut (J. californica) which sprouts
from the root collar or basal platform following top-kill [57].  No
sprouting information was available for another western species, little
walnut (J. microcarpa).

If Arizona walnut populations do not sprout, rates of establishment will
vary depending on the proximity of seed trees.  Without animals
facilitating seed dispersal (i.e., squirrels do not cache fruits),
colonization rates of Arizona walnut may be slow.

Following a 1959 wildfire that burned all of the Three Bar experimental
watersheds in central Arizona, a shrub control program using herbicides
was established to create perennial stream flows.  Arizona walnut was
not present before the treatments.  Twenty-four years after burning,
small amounts of Arizona walnut were found in the untreated stream
channel downstream from the treatment area.  It did not occur on the
untreated control area which had also burned in 1959.  No suggestions
were made by the authors about the source of the Arizona walnut [15].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Prescribed burning is not recommended for the established southwestern
riparian woodlands that Arizona walnut occurs in because fire is
difficult to manage in this habitat [7].

Related categories for Species: Juglans major | Arizona Walnut