There is a small grove of ponderosa pines up in Sonoma county being tended with fire mimicry techniques. I’ve been tracking their progress for 6 years and, while slow to respond initially, they are now showing noticeable improvement in canopy density. All the pines below have been treated EXCEPT for the last pine.
Below are photo comparisons of several coast live oaks that have been treated with fire mimicry techniques over the past few years. Some of the oaks have bleeding stem cankers, possibly Sudden Oak Death disease, though most appear uninfected. Positive responses in canopy density are visible in most of the oaks.
The coast live oaks and one bay laurel in these photos were treated nearly one year ago with fire mimicry. Several of these oaks had stem canker infections (probably Sudden Oak Death), so I used a surgical procedure to remove the cankers on these oaks. The near-term results are impressive and show that oaks can respond rapidly (less than one year) to mindful tending of the plants and soils.
Someday many others will awake to this revolution happening in the oaks forests of California. For my part, that day will arrive one tree at a time . . .
I started fire mimicry treatments on these oaks just two years ago. I’ll let these photos tell you the rest of the story . . .
Eleven years ago I began fire mimicry treatments on several coast live oak trees in Fairfax, CA. These oaks represent the longest record of fire mimicry results to date. The oak shown above has had a bleeding canker (probably Sudden Oak Death) for the entire time, and clearly demonstrates that infected trees can survive with proper care for many years. For most of the time, Leith Carstarphen has been implementing the treatments, and as you can see from the photos here he has done and excellent job! Please check out Leith’s website at ecologiclandscaping.com.
Grandfather oak before and after 7.5 years of healing.
Last week a group of volunteers, assisted by Greg Laden of Marin County Open Space, visited a 400+ year-old coast live oak growing on King Mtn. I have reported on the progress of this oak in two previous posts: Grandfather oak and Grandfather oak – April 2011 update. This oak lies along the main trail up King Mountain and has captured the attention of many a hiker. Donna Shoemaker is one of those hikers. In the Fall of 2007 Donna contacted me about her concerns for the health of this oak. When I inspected it I found it was indeed in poor shape with signs of disease and insect infestation. I proposed a plan to her that could help the oak, but I was not optimistic that it would ever be cured. Donna organized a volunteer party to treat the oak and in December of 2007 we gave the oak its first of several fire mimicry treatments. There was an article by Richard Halstead in the Marin IJ (Sudden Oak Death Roars Back) that described the event, adding that “scientists studying the disease expect the (fire mimicry) treatments will prove futile”.
Volunteers assisting in the fire mimicry treatment of Grandfather oak, July 2015
Grandfather oak volunteers – July 2015
Well, I’m happy to report that 7.5 years later have NOT proved futile (UC scientists take note!). Grandfather oak is still alive and is noticeably healthier than before treatments began (see photos). The scientists studying sudden oak death have yet to come to terms with the success of fire mimicry. This is not surprising as their research is based on the disease model of forest health, whereas the fire mimicry approach is based on the ecological model of forest health. More than $100 million dollars has been spent studying one disease organism, Phytophthora ramorum, the pathogen that scientists claim “causes” sudden oak death. They are not about to disrupt that gravy train by expanding their scope of study to include ecological factors such as fire regime and soil pH. Their closed mindedness is our loss of so many oaks. Some day one oak too many will die and the mindshift will be inevitable . . . Read the rest of this entry »
I met Ryan Masters at Tassajara a few months back while I was teaching a workshop on fire mimicry. He is a delightful person and impressed me as knowledgeable and sincere, so I shared some important Native American wisdom with him. He followed up diligently and the result is this fine article about an Ohlone oak stonehenge here in California.
http://hilltromper.com/article/summer-solstice-california-stonehenge
Ryan also wrote this wonderful article about his adventures in the Ventana Wilderness and the Native American “Hands” rock shelter.
http://hilltromper.com/article/tassajara-zen-center-ventana-wilderness
Enjoy!
Here are some assorted results on oaks, pines, and one toyon tree that I collected over the past two weeks. All have been treated with fire mimicry. As you can see some trees are responding better than others. Some of the trees here are showing only a slight improvement in canopy size and density. But results are results, so here they are. Fortunately, I found no infections of sudden oak death disease in any of the oaks here.
A few days ago I checked up on some oaks treated with fire mimicry techniques twice in the past three years. Here are the results. I’m pleased to see that all the oaks are showing noticeable improvement in the health of their canopies. Also happy to report that none of these oaks have become infected with sudden oak death, despite this area being a hotspot for the disease.
Last week I checked up on some oak trees in Glen Ellen, CA to see how they are faring after five years of fire mimicry treatments. I took photos of the oaks and compared them to photos taken five years ago at the same time of year. These are the results. I’m pleased to report that most of the oaks are responding noticeably in terms of canopy density and greenness, and some have improved dramatically. A few of the oaks have a stem canker disease, possibly sudden oak death. These oaks have not shown much response, though it is relevant to note that there are no clear indications of decline in canopy health of these diseased trees in five years. This may even be considered a positive result.
Sudden Oak Life by Lee Klinger 
Recent Comments