Last year I began fire mimicry treatments on several Ancestor oaks in Monterey, CA. Several of these oaks date from a time when the Ohlone Indians were the sole occupants of the land. As you can see the oaks are responding quite favorably to being tended. Note the change in greenness and lushness of the canopy leaves. It only took a few hours of work.
Video by my friend Sean Corwin.
A more detailed discussion of the science, TEK, practice, and efficacy of fire mimicry is given in my 2024 book Forged by Fire: The Cultural Tending of Trees and Forests in Big Sur and Beyond https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3ZVMB3P)
In 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, I kept my focus on tending trees and began fire mimicry treatments on a grove of sick and diseased coast live oaks in Salinas, CA. Well here they are, three years later, flourishing! One diseased oak, however, did not survive despite a valiant recovery effort in the first year. Note also, in the final photo set, that the untreated (control) oak has died.
Fours years ago I initiated fire mimicry treatments on a grove of sick and diseased coast live oaks in Aptos, CA. Many of these are “Ancestor” oaks, centuries-old trees that thrived under the care of the Ohlone People – living Native artifacts if you will. Sadly, one of these ancient oaks was too sick to be saved, and died in 2021.
The images here indicate that most of the oaks have responded favorably to the treatments as seen in the increase in foliage density and lushness. It still truly amazes me that a few hours of work once a year can make such a difference for an oak grove.
I’ve haven’t been posting many results lately due to my focus on a major writing project that you will hear more about soon. Thanks for your patience! Meanwhile, let me take some time and share some recent results in the next few posts.
Today I want to show you a grove of oaks in Hillsborough, CA that I’ve been treating with fire mimicry every few years since 2012. Notice how the trees have developed denser, lusher canopies. This is mainly due improved soil fertility from compost tea and mineral amendments.
In November 2020 I began fire mimicry treatments on several coast live oaks and Pacific madrones in Felton, CA. Last year, when I checked on these trees, they were already showing a nice improvement (see here). Now after two years nearly all of the trees are showing noticeable positive responses to the treatments, even at the height of drought conditions. Several of the oaks have undergone major stem canker surgeries, but still seem to be on the mend. Hope you enjoy these results as much as these trees.
In 2005 I had a thought (ironically, or not, beneath an Ancestor coast redwood) of creating a movement called Sudden Oak Life, with the intent of helping restore the dying oak forests of California through the efforts of fire mimicry. The movement has grown steadily over the years as more and more positive results from my fire mimicry practice have been documented. Now that I’m able to give more time to sharing these practices with the larger community, the Sudden Oak Life movement is now blooming.
Thanks to the fine efforts of EcoCamp Coyote and Indian Canyon Nation this past weekend we attracted more than 70 participants of all genders, ages, and ethnicities for our “Restoring Fire Safe Communities: Fire Mimicry and TEK” workshop at Indian Canyon. Along with my teachings on fire mimicry, we had TEK instruction led by Kanyon Sayers-Roods (Mutsun Ohlone) and Chanel Keller (Esselen Tribe), We were also honored to receive some heartfelt teachings from Anne Freiwald and Lydia Neilsen on methods of stream restoration. Ammon Felix guided us in the basics of chain saw safety and operation. At the end of the workshop, the enthusiasm of the participants for the teachings shared and the futures created were palpable.
I’m immensely pleased to see how this movement has grown in both size and diversity! Below are a few images of our event.
In October of 2020 I began fire mimicry treatments on 4 coast live oaks and one black oak here in Big Sur. The above oak also received a major stem canker surgery. Yesterday I checked on the progress of the oaks at the two year mark, nearly to the minute. I’ll never tire of seeing trees get healthier!
The photos here show several stands of old-growth coast live oaks in Carmel Valley, CA that were cleared, thinned, and pruned in order to reduce the ladder fuels and prepare these sites for future prescribed burns. Time-lapse videos of these and other nearby sites are presented in several recent posts.
Here’s a clip of some fire mimicry work we did today around an ancient coast live oak in Carmel Valley, CA. The focus in this first stage of fire mimicry is to remove ladder fuels and reduce the competition from nearby woody shrubs. Afterwards, we will fertilize the soils with biochar (produced from burning the slash piles), along with compost tea and alkaline-rich minerals, then apply limewash to the trunks.
Sudden Oak Life by Lee Klinger 
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