[APWG] Ecosystem restoration and alien species eradication FIRE EFFECTS Re: Fire as part of the Tiny Test plots

[Wayne Tyson]

APWG:

I gotta say that I wish I had known about Craig and his company years ago.

Again I gotta say that I generally agree with most of what Craig posts, 
especially in this one. I have seen fires stimulate both alien and 
indigenous species, but that is likely due primarily to the increase in 
available nutrients and (temporarily) altered soil conditions. The seed 
"bank" (viable propagule assemblage, e.g. including non-seed reproductive 
structures) and the altered post-fire site environment (e. g. killed seeds, 
broken-dormancy seeds, seeds otherwise exposed to an environment favorable 
to germination that were previously deprived of sufficient, light, 
temperature, oxygen, favorable pH, etc.) can confound some generalizations 
about fire as a "tool," so one experience in one context may or may not be 
repeated in another.

I might emphasize Craig's conclusions even more, and go so far to say that 
even though wildland fires did occur prior to the alien invasion that began, 
say, effectively, a couple hundred years ago or so (post-1769), they were 
much less frequent than they are now, particularly in Southern California. 
The missionaries and those that followed them, along with their livestock, 
crops, and weeds, trampled the Eden that was California (and elsewhere in 
the Western Hemisphere and Oceana) into submission and laid the wasteful 
foundation for the hellfire we must now contend with through their arrogant, 
ignorant self-righteousness which we have inherited and persist in 
repeating. The oats and other alien (not co-evolved with the indigenous 
components of the native ecosystems) plants not only release more heat 
energy more quickly that is particularly destructive (much more destructive 
than pre-contact fires), they intercept precipitation and deprive indigenous 
species of the soil water they need for sustenance, they also deprive 
aquifers and streams of a moderated subsurface flow that once kept them from 
going dry, thus affecting fisheries, other wildlife, and, by the way, the 
general and specific welfare of humans, "indigenous" and alien, after the 
Great Invasion. We replaced a truly wonderful and bountiful land with a 
wasteland of which we continue, generation after generation, to remain 
unaware (baseline-shifting). This subject would require too many words for 
posting here, but others may add their own thoughts.

As to "Sahara" or "Asian" mustard, it is advancing exponentially in many 
places throughout the Southwest, primarily spread by motor vehicles. Expect 
fires in this stuff to be "explosive." While local weed experts are fiddling 
with other targets of perhaps lower priority (who knows?), Brassica 
tournefortii marches on.

WT


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company" <Craig at astreet.com>
To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 4:23 PM
Subject: [APWG] Fire as part of the Tiny Test plots


> Dear Tony and All,
>
> Thanks for your email.
>
> Yes, I would encourage the testing of fire by itself in any Tiny Test
> plots, so that you can quickly elimate that possibility for future
> ecological restoration west of the 100th meridian, whenever you have
> exotics within your ecosystem.
>
> Fire with broadcast sowing immediate afterwards with local native seeds,
> however, might work very nicely, but 99 out of 100 times, fires are
> usually used by themselves without the seed-sowing aspect, and you can see
> the lack of success of two fires at Russian Ridge at
> http://www.ecoseeds.com/invent.html
>
> The fires, without the immediate native seed sowing thereafter, actually
> made the exotic weeds spread faster, in the second year after the fires.
> The native grasses were not harmed much, but the native wildflowers and
> native perennials suffered the most.
>
> The problem with burning annuals amongst the native perennials, is that
> the annuals may have much more burnable biomass, than the local natives
> originally had.
>
> Last autumn, I measured the burnable biomass per acre, for differen native
> and exotic species in my area, and concluded that the normal burnable
> biomass in our native grasslands induring our fire season, September and
> October, is equal to a single sheet of newspaper spread across the land.
>
> By contrast, the wild oats, which is one of our more common exotic
> grasses, burnable biomass was equal to 500 gallons of gasoline per acre.
> You can see why you see such spectacular fire pics. from California,
> there's a lot of kindling underneath those trees.
>
> You can see the measurements of the burnable biomasses at
> http://www.ecoseeds.com/flames.html
>
> Regarding relic native grasslands on sandy, arid soils, they have been
> hammered, so if there are any empty spaces, those spaces are like little
> vacancy signs.
>
> We are having the same problem with Saharan mustard (Brassica
> tournefortii) in the cattle and sheep-created empty spaces in our
> California and Mojave deserts, at http://www.ecoseeds.com/mustards.html
>
> You can also see the Before and After pictures from arid grasslands of the
> SW, from Dr. Robert Humphry's paired photos, 1890s to 1980s at
> http://www.ecoseeds.com/desertgrass.html
>
> That is why when we look at what looks like a pristine area, even if it is
> fairly weed-free, might still be a ruin of the original 1492 ecosystem.
>
> Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333
>
> Sincerely,  Craig Dremann
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> Disclaimer
> Any requests, advice or opinions posted to this list reflect ONLY the 
> opinion of the individual posting the message.


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