[MPWG] Follow up to Native Plants and Disasters

[Center for Sustainable Resources]

Patricia, This is a good discussion because it does show how things evolve.
You don't have to look elswhere to see this. Our eastern forest is made of 
of many fire tolerent species. Fire actually brings on sprouting. Red oak is 
one of the best examples but even ginseng is very fire tolerent. Fiure seems 
to bring on new plants in the wild. Burned out sites as evidenced by 
scarring on trees often provide the best sitands of ginseng.
A few years back a grower in this area acidentally set fire to his ginseng 
area during a dry spell and the fire burned away all of the thatch. He 
thought that patch was doomed. As it turned out that became their best 
ginseng stand. Fred Hays

>From: Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov
>To: mpwg at lists.plantconservation.org
>Subject: [MPWG] Follow up to Native Plants and Disasters
>Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 15:01:40 -0500
>
>
>
>
>
>Last month, there was some discussion of native plants and their resilience
>in light of natural disasters.
>
>Logic dictates that plants, as immobile denizens of their environment,
>would evolve a certain ability to survive stochastic events such as fires,
>hurricanes and tsunamis.  Every so often we are reminded that this is the
>case.  In fact, research shows that certain species not only survive but
>actually thrive under these conditions.
>
>One medicinal plant (tree) that falls into this 'thrill-seeking" disaster
>survivor/thriver category (but is, perhaps, better known for its timber)
>is: Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla)
>
>In Mexico, a long-term mahogany regeneration study by Dr. Laura Snook
>revealed that pervading tropical silviculture techniques, such as
>enrichment planting (which introduces additional native species into
>existing forest areas and minimizes disturbance of remnant vegetation)
>create the least optimal conditions for mahogany regeneration.
>Conclusions: Mahogany regeneration is disturbance-connected; it is found in
>environments prone to catastrophic gap openings (resulting from hurricanes
>and fires); and, the slash and burn methods utilized by local farmers in
>the forested regions created more favorable conditions for mahogany
>regeneration.  See publication, “Slash burn for more mahogany in Mexico
>”-CIFOR 2002 -
>http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/docs/_ref/publications/areports/english2001/slash_and_burn.htm
>
>Dr. Snook's research has broader implications for empowering local or
>communal landholders to manage their lands; here's an excerpt from the
>above article:
>    The best conditions for mahogany survival and growth were produced by
>    slashing, felling and burning.” Thousands of local farmers use this
>    technique every year to create agricultural clearings, where they grow
>    maize and other crops for a year or two before the area is abandoned to
>    regenerate naturally. These clearings are the perfect environment for
>    mahogany seedlings. So now the researchers are encouraging the Mayan
>    Indians who harvest mahogany to plant seedlings in their slash and burn
>    fields the year the clearings are burned, along with their agricultural
>    crops.
>
>Yet another contribution to sustainable harvest practices!
>
>-Patricia
>
>Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
>Botanist - Division of Scientific Authority
>Chair - Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Group
>US Fish & Wildlife Service
>4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 750
>Arlington, VA  22203
>703-358-1708 x1753
>FAX: 703-358-2276
>Working for the conservation and sustainable use of our green natural
>resources.
><www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>
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