Sudden Oak Life by Lee Klinger

Here I present new findings of the positive effects of fire mimicry of which I was previously unaware. On several occasions I’ve documented, via time-lapse videos, the process of clearing, thinning, and pruning of oaks to eliminate the ladder fuels and reduce the competition from shrubs and young trees. The above video is a compilation of several time-lapse videos coast live oaks I’ve treated with fire mimicry. When examining these videos carefully, it is clear to me that there is an additional consequence of these treatments that I had not previously realized, which is that the level of the lower canopies, and in some cases even the upper canopies, is noticeably increased in height after fire mimicry treatments. Higher branches allow more sunlight to leaves, thus increasing photosynthetic rates, all while reducing the fire hazard. That seems pretty cool!