Living with Fire
As you travel through Redwood National and State Parks, you may notice trees and landscapes that have been charred by fire. Some burns happened due to lightning strikes. Some came from American Indians. Some come from park management using prescribed fire. The American Indian method of managing plant communities with fire helped to keep the ecosystem healthy by clearing brush and encouraging new growth. However, management practices by Euro-Americans brought a century of fire suppression and altered landscapes. Today, park resource managers are returning to the practice of using fire to maintain landscape health. It is the long-term goal for Redwood National and State Parks to restore park lands to the health that existed before Euro-American contact and influence. By using prescribed fire on a regular basis, park managers have set the following goals for prairies and redwood forests.
Objectives for prairies and oak woodlands:
As you travel through Redwood National and State Parks, you may notice trees and landscapes that have been charred by fire. Some burns happened due to lightning strikes. Some came from American Indians. Some come from park management using prescribed fire. The American Indian method of managing plant communities with fire helped to keep the ecosystem healthy by clearing brush and encouraging new growth. However, management practices by Euro-Americans brought a century of fire suppression and altered landscapes. Today, park resource managers are returning to the practice of using fire to maintain landscape health. It is the long-term goal for Redwood National and State Parks to restore park lands to the health that existed before Euro-American contact and influence. By using prescribed fire on a regular basis, park managers have set the following goals for prairies and redwood forests.
Objectives for prairies and oak woodlands:
- Control and eliminate exotic plant species
- Restrict the spread of an exotic oat grass
- Kill 80-90 percent of invading Douglas-fir less than six feet tall in prairies
- Kill 60 percent of Douglas-fir less than six feet tall in oak woodlands
- Restore native plant species diversity
- Improve native plant to exotic species plant ratio
- Provide periodic disturbance to maintain an uneven-aged understory
- Reduce duff material and small dead and down material
- Limit old growth mortality to one percent or less
- Generate hardwood reproduction in the understory
- Reduce fire intolerant species
- Limit consumption of large dead and down material