Fire Relations — Abstract of Paper


Effects of Wildfire on Blue Oak in the Northern Sacramento Valley
Marc Horney,¹ Richard Standiford,² Doug McCreary,³ Jerry Tecklin,³ and Roy Richards⁴


The objective of this project was to develop a technique for rapidly determining the extent of wildfire damage to blue oaks (Quercus douglasii) that would be usable by landowners without requiring extensive training. In late winter 2000, 100 oaks of various sizes and degrees of damage were selected from 10 plots located where wildfires had burned in the previous year. Measures of individual tree parameters, stand structure and scorch characteristics were taken and tested for their adequacy in predicting mortality. These same oaks were re-evaluated in August 2000. Sixteen percent of the sample trees were top-killed (50 percent of the seedlings, and 8 percent of the saplings and mature trees). Eighty-eight percent of the top-killed oaks re-sprouted from the base. Only two of the top-killed oaks in this study failed to re-sprout. Logistic regression models based on tree size and wildfire effects are presented as preliminary tools to predict wildfire effects. The low level of mortality confirms the tolerance of blue oak to low- to moderate-intensity wildfires.