Frequent, Low-intensity Fire
Credit: George Gentry USFWS
Restoring natural fire regimes can produce many benefits for your oak ecosystem.
Restoring fire can reduce fuel loads, remove encroaching young conifers (i.e., seedling and sapling size), maintain an open understory, create understory conditions suitable for native plants, and possibly encourage oak recruitment. Prescribed fire should be implemented to best mimic site-specific fire regimes. Fire regimes are a suite of characteristics that describe the role fire plays, and are commonly described by their frequency and severity for a particular forest type. In general, it is highly recommended that fire treatments are repeated periodically (typically, every 3 to 5 years) to maintain low fuel loads and reduce the likelihood of a high-intensity wildfire that could damage or kill valuable, old oaks.
Oak stewardship guidelines by topic
Below you will find desired conditions representing a characteristic of a healthy, functioning oak ecosystem from the “Restoring Oak Habitats in Southern Oregon and North California: A Guide for Private Landowners” developed by the Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network in collaboration with the Umpqua Oak Partnership. They also present guidelines to help you achieve each desired condition, and these guidelines can be applied to oak savanna, oak chaparral, oak woodland, and mixed oak-conifer habitats.
