SustainableWorld’s Channel did a recent interview with me at La Casa de Maria (Santa Barbara, CA) about oak health, native people, and fire mimicry and has posted a portion of the interview on YouTube. Here is the video:
Interview with SustainableWorld’s Channel
17 02 2010Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : Fire ecology, Fire mimicry, Native people, Oak health, Plant succession, Sudden Oak Death
What is fire mimicry?
8 02 2010People often ask me why the oaks and other trees in California need to be tended. Oaks have been growing in California for many thousands of years, so why would they need our help now?
The answer is clear. The great oak woodlands and savannas of California are not the result of mother nature doing what she does best. The iconic oaks are largely the product of thousands of years of tending by Native Americans. It is well documented that the native people here managed the oaks with fire, keeping the ecosystem in an early successional state that is optimal for oaks. Acorns from the oaks were a primary food source for the native people of California.
Tending the land with fire in Big Sur (photo by Lee Klinger)
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Categories : Acid rain, Big Sur, Fire ecology, Fire mimicry, Native people, Oak health, Sudden Oak Death
Ancient redwoods in decline
21 01 2010A week or so ago a large redwood tree growing near my home here in Big Sur lost its top. The wind blew hard and broke off the upper part of the redwood as shown in Photo 1. In many places around Big Sur ancient redwood trees have lost their tops during the winter storms. Some of these tops are more than three feet in diameter and you don’t want to be around when they come crashing to the ground.
Photo 1 (photo by Lee Klinger)
I realize, of course, that it is not unusual for large trees to succumb to high winds, but what does seem unusual is that in some groves nearly half of the ancient trees have lost their tops within the past 20 years or so. By all appearances these redwoods have grown healthily together in these groves for three, four, five centuries or more, so why are they suddenly losing their tops?
The answer is not too hard to figure out. Yes, there is acid rain falling in Big Sur (see here, here, and here) and that no doubt has some effect on the redwood ecosystem. But recent changes in land practices, most notably fire suppression, are causing dramatic shifts in the successional status of the redwood forests. In the past the native people set fires that revitalized the soil and kept the young redwoods from crowding out the older ones. Read the rest of this entry »
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Categories : Acid rain, Big Sur, Fire ecology, Fire mimicry, Native people, Redwoods
A holistic approach to mitigating pathogenic effects on trees
25 12 2009For those of you who would like to read more about the details of the science and techniques involved in fire mimicry practices for oak restoration, here is a paper I wrote last year:
A holistic approach to mitigating pathogenic effects on trees
by Lee Klinger MA PhD
Presented at: Treework Environmental Practice Seminar XII
National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff, UK – 13th November 2008
Summary
The conventional ‘disease model’ approach to tree health focuses on identifying and controlling a specific pathogen (or pest) implicated as the causal agent of tree decline. Alternatively there are more holistic approaches in tree health that address a broader suite of processes occurring at the ecosystem level which may be predisposing the trees to infection by disease. Here I describe a holistic methodology that takes into account not only the proximal agents involved in tree decline, but also the age and structure of the forest, the abundance of cryptogams, the fire history, the acidity of the precipitation, the fertility of the soil, and the historical land care practices. This methodology is being implemented in the oak forests of coastal California which are experiencing high levels of mortality attributed, by most scientists, to the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum (aka sudden oak death). Evidence reported here of 1) acid rain, 2) acidifying effects of mosses and lichens, 3) the presence of acidic and nutrient deficient soils, and 4) a much lowered incidence of disease in recently burned areas, points to the likelihood that fire suppression has radically altered the structure and successional status of the forests, leading to enhanced competition and systemic acidification. Case study results of sick and diseased coast live oaks receiving holistic care, aimed not at treating P. ramorum but at reducing the environmental acidity, fertilizing the soils, and otherwise mimicking the effects of fire, show noticeable improvement in the health of the oaks after one year (78%, n=152), with further improvement in years two (84%, n=134) and three+ (81%, n=80). While the results do not indicate that the incidence of P. ramorum has changed significantly in the population of treated oaks, there is evidence that the sick, non-diseased trees are better able to resist infection.
Download the complete paper here.
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Categories : Acid rain, Big Sur, Case studies, Fire ecology, Fire mimicry, Native people, Oak health, Soil science, Sudden Oak Death
Ecological research backs fire mimicry approach
31 10 2009Science Daily is reporting on a new study that documents the importance of fire feedbacks in maintaining savanna woodlands. Fire feedbacks are the ecological basis for employing fire mimicry to restore the oak savannas here in California. While I don’t have much faith in the mathematical models that these scientists are using, it is interesting that they have come to the same conclusion I have reached based on my own, and others’, empirical studies.
From Science Daily (Oct. 29, 2009):
Trees Facilitate Wildfires As A Way To Protect Their Habitat
Fire is often thought of something that trees should be protected from, but a new study suggests that some trees may themselves contribute to the likelihood of wildfires in order to promote their own abundance at the expense of their competitors. Read the rest of this entry »
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Categories : Fire ecology, Fire mimicry, Native people, Oak health, Sudden Oak Death
Upcoming workshop on tree and soil care at La Casa de Maria
15 09 2009THE HISTORY AND PRACTICE OF NATIVE TREE CARE
Saturday, October 10, from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm
La Casa de Maria Retreat Center, 800 El Bosque Road, Santa Barbara, CA
For thousands of years the native Chumash people tended the oak forests in the Santa Barbara. Now California’s oaks are endangered. Come for a workshop that will include presentations, time in La Casa’s oak woodland and a hands-on demonstration of tree care.
The Chumash used prescribed fire and other methods of traditional land management. To them, living on a living earth meant that the trees and forests were essentially organs of the planet. Keeping the trees healthy was fundamental for maintaining their quality of life.
Now-a-days, oaks and other trees are experiencing accelerated rates of decline in many parts of California, including the Santa Barbara area. A holistic view of the problem reveals that many of our aging trees and their soils are undergoing a major ecological shift brought on by changes in land management, especially fire suppression.
By revisiting the practices of the native people we are provided with an effective means of intervening in the decline of trees without the use of synthetic chemicals. Details will be presented on how fires and fire mimicry methods act to improve the fertility of soils and the health of trees. Results will be shown of case studies involving a suite of techniques to restore oak trees, including fire, mineral fertilizers, limewashing, brush clearing and mulching.
There will also be a presentation on the practical applications of the theories of agroecology that are now used in ornamental horticulture. By shifting from conventional techniques that utilize synthetic chemicals and pesticides to non-toxic organic products focused on improving soil fertility and insect ecology plant health is significantly improved.
This workshop will include a demonstration on traditional tree care using all-natural materials.
Lee Klinger, MA, PhD is an independent scientist and ecological consultant from Big Sur, with over 25 years of professional experience in the fields of biogeochemistry, forest ecology and soil science. He has held scholarly appointments at the University of Colorado, the University of Oxford, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Corey Welles is the Plant Health Care Coordinator at Lotusland. He has seen dramatic improvements in the health of their plant collections since using agroecology based practices.
For more information and to register online go to: www.lacasademaria.org
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Categories : Announcements, Fire ecology, Native people, Redwoods, Sudden Oak Death
More coast live oaks on the mend
29 07 2009Here’s further evidence that fire mimicry treatments are helping our diseased oaks. In 2005 I began treatment of two sick coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) growing in acidic soils in Mill Valley, CA. Each of the oaks had thin canopies and bleeding stem cankers. The owner informed me at the time that UC Berkeley scientists had confirmed the presence of Sudden Oak Death (Phytophthora ramorum) in trees on the property.
The photos below show how, after four years, the oaks have responded to fire mimicry treatments. The first photo shows a nice recovery of the leaf canopy, and the second photo shows how well the oaks are able to fend off the stem cankers. Bleeding is seen to have completely ceased in one of the oaks in less than four years!
UC scientists and other Sudden Oak Death researchers, those who truly want to help the oaks – we should be talking. Comments, at least?
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Categories : Fire ecology, Sudden Oak Death
Using fire mimicry to treat early leaf senescence in California buckeyes
15 07 2009The buckeye (Aesculus californica) is a deciduous tree, low and broad in stature, that is endemic to California. Every year these trees extend their gratitude by offering up a harvest of enormous size nuts. The species is a vital part of the California ecosystem and ever so worthy of our attention. Some even believe that tending the buckeyes is a responsibility passed on to us by the native people, who for the past few thousand years have been tending California’s buckeye groves.
Buckeyes do very well in open forests and savannas, especially in places where fires have been allowed to burn. However, on unburned lands buckeyes are often seen to be in poor health. Where forests are overgrown and acidified the buckeyes are experiencing serious health problems, including stem failure, canopy dieback, and any numbers of leaf blights including anthracnose and sudden oak death.
One of the first symptoms of ill health in buckeyes is the early seasonal onset of leaf senescence. Several years ago an astute friend of mine began noticing that for several years the buckeyes near her home had been losing their leaves earlier than usual. She contacted me about the problem and I suggested we try fire mimicry, the same treatments that I’ve been using on the oaks.
After four years of ongoing treatment here are the results . . .
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Categories : Buckeye health, Fire ecology, Fire mimicry, Moss ecology, Native people, Repeat photography, Sudden Oak Death
Coast live oaks responding to fire mimicry
22 06 2009The use of repeat photography to document temporal changes in trees and landscapes was one of the many fine techniques I learned from my PhD advisor Prof. Tom Veblen. He taught me the importance of replicating details such the lens focal length, sky conditions, and time of day. My photos don’t always live up to his standards, but it’s not for lack of trying.
Today I would like to show repeat photographs for several coast live oak trees that have been undergoing fire mimicry treatments for exactly four years. Much of the credit for these results should go to Demetrios Sgouros, Leith Carstarphen, and Daniel Brooke who were among the first tree care specialists to recognize the utility of fire mimicry techniques in helping the many sick oaks here in California.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Categories : Fire ecology, Sudden Oak Death
Fire mimicry effects on Douglas firs
28 05 2009As some of you may have observed, it’s not just the oaks that are suffering here in California. Problems are seen in the pines, the bay laurels, the sycamores, and the redwoods. Douglas firs are sick and dying in many places, especially towards the coast. Symptoms such as a thin canopy, a heavy cover of cryptogams (mosses and lichens), and bark deterioration are consistent with problems in soil fertility due to fire suppression and systemic acidification.
Fire mimicry methods were applied to these two sick Douglas fir trees in Woodside, California in May of 2007, with some additional work in 2008. Below are the photos showing the canopy changes after two years. Sorry, no control trees here, the owners rightly want to keep all their trees healthy.
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Categories : Fire ecology
Sudden Oak Life by Lee Klinger 
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