DISCUSSION OF INITIAL 

 VEGETATIVE RECOVERY 

 FOLLOWING PATTEE CANYON FIRE 



General Discussion 



Eeirly succession vegetation on the Pattee Canyon 

 burn derived from two primary sources: first, the 

 vegetative regrowth of shrubs emd perennials, and se- 

 cond, the establishment of artificially seeded grasses. 

 Establishment of annual and perennial herbs or shrubs 

 from natural off-site seed sources was a relatively minor 

 component in the first postfire year (1978). Secondary 

 colonization from some perennials surviving the fire and 

 setting seed became more important in later years. 



Although vegetative recovery from the fire was not 

 quantitatively measured until late June and July 1978, 

 casueil observations made in late summer and fall of 

 1977 revealed shrub resprouts along roads and in 

 ravines. Resprouts noted in 1977 included serviceberry. 

 Rocky Mount£iin maple, ninebark, rose {Rosa sp.), and 

 Scouler willow (Salix scouleriana) (fig. 11). 



Figure 11.— Willow {Sallx scouleriana) 

 resprouting following the fire. 



In April 1978, white spirea and common snowberry 

 (Symphoricarpos albus) were resprouting on severely 

 burned sites, along with spring geophytes, conspicuous 

 aster (Aster conspicuus), heartleaf arnica, and pinegrass. 

 Less severely burned areas on the eastern edge of the 

 fire exhibited a wider veiriety of resprouts, including fire- 

 sensitive plants, for example, kinnikinnick (Arc- 

 tostaphylos uva-ursi). Only a few annuals were seen. 

 Slenderleaf collomia [Collomia linearis) and blue-eyed 

 Meiry (Collinsia parviflora) were present and miner's let- 

 tuce (Montia perfoliata) was conspicuous in many areas. 

 Rapidly sprouting artifically seeded grass was also very 

 conspicuous in most areas. During the spring of 1978, 

 however, much of the burned £irea was black ash, and 



resprouts of perennials were scattered. Vegetative cover 

 in ravines was somewhat more dense, but still scattered. 



By late June 1978, quantitative semipling began. Ar- 

 tifically seeded grasses were well established and had 

 achieved canopy coverage values of up to 32 to 36 per- 

 cent in some upland plots. Native pinegrass responded 

 quickly on upland sites and in drier ravine sites. In the 

 ravines, shrub regrowth from rootstocks and rhizomes 

 was already vigorous, with up to 40 percent cover. 



Annuals were most common on the burned area the 

 first spring although they were a minor part of the 

 vegetation. In addition to the annuals cited earlier, 

 prickly lettuce {Lactuca serriola) established successfully 

 on the burn in 1978. Its height made it conspicuous by 

 summer and, although it achieved greater than 1 percent 

 cover in only one stemd, it was present in nine of the 

 ravine stands and 10 of the upland stands. 



By August £md September 1978, the spring geophytes, 

 early flowering perennials, especially heartleaf arnica, 

 and spring annuals had either disappeared from view or 

 were represented by greatly reduced cover. Summer 

 flowering perennials, including the seeded grasses, and 

 shrubs were close to maximum development for the yeeir. 



In 1979, few annuals were present in either upland or 

 ravine plots. May, June, and July of 1979 had less than 

 50 percent normal precipitation and herbaceous flora on 

 upland sites Eind in dry ravines decreased slightly in 

 cover. This did not appear to affect the moist ravines. 



Lyon and Stickney (1976) describe the characteristic 

 pattern for forest succession in the Northern Rocky 

 Mountains as ein initiating herb stage followed in turn 

 by shrub and tree stages. This model of succession uses 

 the dominant life-form rather than vegetation composi- 

 tion as the basis for successional stages and compares 

 the shrub and tree layers with the herbaceous layer. The 

 life-form patterns for the first 2 to 3 years of upland and 

 ravine postfire development in Pattee Ccmyon are sum- 

 marized in figures 12 and 13. 



By the fifth postfire year (1982) the ravines generally 

 were shrub dominated, although four sites (stands 1, 3, 

 4, £ind 8) had only 40 to 47 percent shrub cover. The 

 seven other ravine sites visited in 1982 had 56 to 78 per- 

 cent shrub cover. While most upland areas are still herb 

 dominated, stand 19 has 51 percent shrub cover. 



Recovery of Conifers 



In addition to the 1980 study of the distribution of 

 conifer regeneration, tree regeneration data were 

 gathered during the upland study, the ravine study, and 

 while determining fuel loads for the stands in these 

 studies. All these soiu-ces of tree regeneration data in- 

 dicate few seedhngs are present and those are clumped 

 near the burn edges, near surviving trees or near 

 serotinous lodgepole pines. The lodgepole pine seedlings 

 that estabhshed following the fire have gained sufficient 

 height to be readily visible above herbaceous vegetation 

 by 1982 and are scattered across the burn. Most of the 

 lodgepole pine seedlings observed were above 4,800 feet 

 (1 ^60 m) elevation but occasional individuals were 

 observed down to about 4,100 feet (1 250 m). 



Lodgepole pine regeneration following fire is dependent 

 on a "one show" effort. In the next few years a 



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