FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Juglans californica | Southern California Walnut 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Southern California walnut trees are top-killed by most fires [25].  


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Southern California walnut recovers well from fire.  It sprouts
vigorously from the trunk and root crown when top-killed by fire, but
does not produce seedlings, an indication that most seeds are killed by
fire [11].  In Los Angeles County, 10-year-old southern California
walnuts were severely burned.  Sprouts from the root crowns reached
5 feet (1.5 m) during postfire year 1 [11].  Southern California walnut
was sprouting from the root crown 3 years and 8 months after a fire in
Big Sycamore Canyon, Ventura County, in the fall of 1973 [29].  

Several hundred trees were burned in July 1989 at California State
Polytechnic University.  One year after fire there was no evidence of
dead trees, even though most of the branches and stems had been
top-killed.  Almost all of the trees sprouted from the root crown within
6 weeks of the fire [25].

  


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
In plant communities near urban areas, the overstory of oak and walnut
is a special resource that managers usually protect from fire.  However,
the understory of these forests can be burned during cool weather to
eliminate accumulated ground fuels and produce a shaded fuelbreak [28].

Quinn [25] suggested that prescribed fires of low intensity, at intervals
of several years, be tested for their effects on southern California
walnut communities.  

Related categories for Species: Juglans californica | Southern California Walnut