Sudden Oak Life by Lee Klinger

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.

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In November of 2013 I met with a property owner in Redwood City, CA who had some rather sick coast live oak trees. His wife had alerted him my work with fire mimicry and he was interested, though quite skeptical, of my approach to helping oaks. I provided a report of my findings and recommendations, and he responded with a number of good questions, showing me that he had done his homework on the subject. In the end he opted to try my approach, noting that his decision was swayed by the fact that the mineral and compost fertilizers I apply are all natural, non-toxic compounds typically used in organic agriculture.

One year later, in November of 2014, we met again as I did my annual inspection his treated oaks. Even before I had time to re-photograph the trees he admitted he had seen significant improvement in several oaks, and was no longer a skeptic of my work.

Bear in mind that these photos show the treated oaks after only one year’s time. A few oaks show no noticeable improvement in canopy density or greenness, nor do they show any noticeable decline. Other oaks have responded with clear improvement in canopy density and greenness.

Needless to say, the owner opted to treat his oaks again, and we’ll see their response again next year . . .

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In 2010 I began fire mimicry treatments on a grove of coast live oaks in Woodside, CA, which are at risk of Sudden Oak Death. Here are the results after four years. None of the oaks has contracted disease, and their canopies are clearly showing an increase in size, greenness, and density. Some light pruning occurred in 2011.

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Thank you readers for your patience during the extended quiet time here on my blog in 2014. This year started off with the challenge of recovering from the loss of my home during the Big Sur fire in December 2013, where many of my friends and neighbors also lost their homes. Fortunately, with the generous help of the Big Sur community, family, and friends I’ve been able to set up a new home and am back doing my forest restoration work.

There are many results from the past year that I plan to show in coming posts in 2015. Let me start with a milestone, the first 10-year results of fire mimicry methods employed on oaks that I have documented. These results come from Fairfax, CA and much of the credit goes to Leith Carstarphen who has been applying the methods I showed him 10 years ago on the coast live oaks below.

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