Rangeland Ecology & Management

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RESPONSE OF SAND SAGEBRUSH TO AN EARLY GROWING-SEASON WILDFIRE.
Author
Unger, Ashley M.
Kachel, Jarret Z.
Fuhlendorf, Samuel D.
Winter, Stephen L.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2016
Body

Sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia) has been shown to actively resprout after prescribed fires; however, many land managers remain reluctant to use fire as a management tool for sand sagebrush shrublands. Cooper Wildlife Management Area in Woodward County, Oklahoma has been the site of multiple studies that used prescribed fire as a management tool for sand sagebrush. Using this past body of research, our objectives were to compare the effects of a stochastic wildfire to the effects of a prescribed fire on sand sagebrush. We measured sand sagebrush mortality, density, and physical structure 6 months after a 6 May 2014 wildfire. We also documented mortality within other species of shrubs on the management area. We used belt transects within the burned area to assess density, height, canopy area, and canopy volume of resprouting sand sagebrush. The point-center quarter method was used to estimate mortality of shrubs other than sand sagebrush. We found that density of sand sagebrush after the wildfire did not differ from the density of unburned shrubs (p = 0.863) or shrubs burned with prescribed fire (p ? 0.245) reported in prior studies. Though density was unaffected, shrub height, canopy area, and canopy volume differed significantly (p < 0.05) from unburned shrubs, as documented by previous studies. Of all non-sagebrush shrubs assessed, only Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) was severely negatively impacted with approximately 95% percent of cedar trees experiencing post-fire mortality. Sand plum (Prunus angustifolia) had low mortality (< 8%), and no mortality was observed for the 2 species of sumac (Rhus spp.). Wildfire did not negatively impact native shrubs, suggesting that sand sagebrush shrublands are highly tolerant of both prescribed and stochastic fires. Our results support the use of prescribed fires to manage sand sagebrush shrublands.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Corpus Christi, TX