Life takes off after a fire(forest recovery)

[WhitePineJunky]

Having the fire roar through here this time last year, it's been a year and a lot of life is taking off, I have been anticipating this and it's very exciting watching what seedlings are coming up and how the forest is gonna be shaped in the future. 

I think I will add photos to this thread sporadically through the future of the lands recovery. I may do some before and after collages at some point as I have "documented" the fire with plenty of photos immediately after 

[WhitePineJunky]

What I've learned so far is that Red maple really benefits from fire and it's not known to be fire resistant tree, in the sense that it's bark is not very fire resistant/heat protective, it's true, but it's resilience to cling onto life despite the bark falling off all around most the trees, still sprout epicormic shoots and new buds, which will seed. Red oak clings on but not as much, and also their seeding system isn't as effective as red maple as it uses wind, sure the trees will have decay and rot issues soon, but not without having a couple good seed years

All softwoods that had their buds or needles singed just died, as most know they don't have buds ready to sprout from the bark
They do have thick bark which helps insulate from heat, but the stress of the heat called in every sawyerbeatle from miles around, and finished the survivors off

[aigheadish]

Fascinating stuff. I listen to some foresting/forester podcasts where they discuss fire a lot and I think it's very interesting how it changes the landscape. Thanks for sharing!

[barbender]

 It is very interesting for me, to see how an eastern woodland reacts to a wildfire. It's not something we see much of in my area. Most big fires are in the mountain west obviously, and all we get to see around here are what species come back after a timber harvest, or what is planted. Aspen is the tree species that seems best adapted to human disturbance, along with whitetail deer for animal species- so that's what we see the most of. 

[WhitePineJunky]

It is very interesting for me, to see how an eastern woodland reacts to a wildfire. It's not something we see much of in my area. Most big fires are in the mountain west obviously, and all we get to see around here are what species come back after a timber harvest, or what is planted. Aspen is the tree species that seems best adapted to human disturbance, along with whitetail deer for animal species- so that's what we see the most of.

The aspen stands here have no problem coming back, they seem to not spread like red maple does though, as they mostly stick to the original stand area off root suckering. 

The white pine never stood a chance in this scenario, all trees died, no seed trees left over, the seedlings that were on the ground dead, and seeds. I did take action to prevent the previous pine areas from becoming red maple or anything else, the areas white pine were I replanted with plugs.

Red maples other advantage is it drops seed early summer and doesn't need cold stratification 

[WhitePineJunky]

big positive from the fire is it wiped out all balsam fir, which were dominating the understory and choking out any good regen of pine or anything else really

[WhitePineJunky]

Few photos a week after the fire to give perspective of the severity of the burn

[Southside]

Pre Colonial times natural fire and the natives use of fire created vast Savannah areas from the Mid-Atlantic through southern New England.  Significant grass lands with interspersed mature timber were very prevalent when the Pilgrims arrived.  It definitely will change the landscape.   Those Maples will produce great nectar for honey bees early in the season if you have any interest there. 

[barbender]

Who you callin' Pilgrim?

[Southside]

Careful there Hat Boy 

[WhitePineJunky]

Pre Colonial times natural fire and the natives use of fire created vast Savannah areas from the Mid-Atlantic through southern New England.  Significant grass lands with interspersed mature timber were very prevalent when the Pilgrims arrived.  It definitely will change the landscape.  Those Maples will produce great nectar for honey bees early in the season if you have any interest there.

Strong presence of blueberry bushes now, definitely one of the bees biggest sources at the moment 

[SawyerTed]

There are two state parks in viewing distance of our back deck.  

The closest is Hanging Rock SP.  Controlled burns have been conducted there periodically for the last 25 years or so.   About a year ago they had one get away and it "topped out" burning all the foliage on the top of Flst Shoals Mountain.   I've not been up on the mountain since but it's really still brown.  My understanding is the fire was unexpectedly intense. 

Pilot Mountain SP had a wildfire caused by illegal campers' camp fire.   The powers that be pretty much allowed it to burn more or less as a prescribed burn.  From a distance there's no sign it ever burned and up close there's lots of life coming back.  

[WhitePineJunky]

[thecfarm]

Them blue berries should really take off!!!

[WhitePineJunky]

Cooked the bark most of the way around but didn't stop it from producing seeds this year 

[Ianab]

It's certainly interest to see how fire changes the forest. Some are naturally evolved to cope with regular forest fires. Pines that only release seeds when exposed to fire etc. Trees with bark that can resist fire damage etc. 

So although devastating in the short term, something grows back soon enough. It may not be the trees we prefer, but it will be something. 

Of course that sucks if you live in an area where big fires are actually expected every 50 or so years. Then some serious human intervention / forest management will be needed to alter the natural burn and regrow cycle. That's where the "no logging" stance often fails. If you leave it up to nature, the natural outcome is a big bonfire, and reset of the forest. Here in NZ you can do a pretty much hands off, and the rain forest is hard to burn, but plantation pine sure can catch fire. The big plantations have some serious fire breaks. 

[WhitePineJunky]

It's certainly interest to see how fire changes the forest. Some are naturally evolved to cope with regular forest fires. Pines that only release seeds when exposed to fire etc. Trees with bark that can resist fire damage etc.

So although devastating in the short term, something grows back soon enough. It may not be the trees we prefer, but it will be something.

Of course that sucks if you live in an area where big fires are actually expected every 50 or so years. Then some serious human intervention / forest management will be needed to alter the natural burn and regrow cycle. That's where the "no logging" stance often fails. If you leave it up to nature, the natural outcome is a big bonfire, and reset of the forest. Here in NZ you can do a pretty much hands off, and the rain forest is hard to burn, but plantation pine sure can catch fire. The big plantations have some serious fire breaks.

IMO fire is actually good, only perceived as bad by humans as we have such short life spans comparative to trees
The last fire that went through the area was 1911, it burned all summer long apparantly.
I'm happy with what is regenerating, I did take decent measures with white pine, planted 10,000. Trying to get sugar maple established too

[firefighter ontheside]

As horrible as a fire is, its wonderful to get to see the regrowth that happens after.  I haven't had a fire on my property, but we did have a tornado take out a large portion of our mature pines.  I was so sad, but then after storm clean up was done, I got to see lots of new seedlings come up and planted a few new species.  

[barbender]

I'd venture a guess that the majority of American forests would benefit from a good fire.

[WhitePineJunky]

Went up the road a bit beyond the fire zone, dug up some jack pine off crown land.
They coming home with me

[Ianab]

IMO fire is actually good, only perceived as bad by humans as we have such short life spans comparative to trees

If your local forest type evolved that way, yes. Then burns are part of the natural cycle of things.  But it sure as heck sucks if your house goes up in the fire, or you lose valuable crop trees. 

In the part of the Country where I live, the natural forest simply doesn't burn. You would be hard pressed to even light a fire most times of the year. But that's more down to "rain forest" conditions. Forest is full of leaves, fallen limbs and even trees, but it would be like setting fire to a compost heap. Now if it didn't rain for a couple of months, that would be BAD. Other coast is a bit drier, and plantation pine tends to be a bit flammable, but here it's all moss and ferns in the understory. 

What it does mean is that only shade tolerant species thrive as there is no "reset" of the forest. The main trees are ones that can survive as saplings under a canopy,  and then grow to take advantage of a light tunnel from an old tree falling. Mature trees can be 200 - 2,000 years old.

[WhitePineJunky]

IMO fire is actually good, only perceived as bad by humans as we have such short life spans comparative to trees

If your local forest type evolved that way, yes. Then burns are part of the natural cycle of things.  But it sure as heck sucks if your house goes up in the fire, or you lose valuable crop trees.

In the part of the Country where I live, the natural forest simply doesn't burn. You would be hard pressed to even light a fire most times of the year. But that's more down to "rain forest" conditions. Forest is full of leaves, fallen limbs and even trees, but it would be like setting fire to a compost heap. Now if it didn't rain for a couple of months, that would be BAD. Other coast is a bit drier, and plantation pine tends to be a bit flammable, but here it's all moss and ferns in the understory.

What it does mean is that only shade tolerant species thrive as there is no "reset" of the forest. The main trees are ones that can survive as saplings under a canopy,  and then grow to take advantage of a light tunnel from an old tree falling. Mature trees can be 200 - 2,000 years old.

That shade tolerant species here is balsam. 
Before the fire, was in the process of taking them out, basically what was happening was I had a mature pine over story, and a sea of balsam understory, no pine regen. Historically fire has burned over the land here but not as frequently as somewhere like California