Coast live oak with roots compromised by adjacent construction still faring well
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.
Kanyon Sayers-Roods welcoming us to Indian Canyon with song and ceremony
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.
The “Restoring Fire Safe Communities” workshop at Indian Canyon next month (Nov. 11-13) is shaping up to be a stellar event. Along with my teachings on fire mimicry, our host Kanyon Sayers-Roods will be sharing some of her Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Cultural Competency. Tom Little Bear Nason, Esselen Tribal Elder, will be speaking on his experiences of the challenges and successes in managing his traditional lands here in Big Sur. All the while EcoCamp Coyote will be providing vegan meals and other logistics in environmentally-conscious ways.
Yesterday our crew of fire mimicry practitioners began treatment of an ancient oak grove in Carmel Valley, CA. The videos here show the results of clearing ladder fuels to help prevent a healthy ground fire from becoming a destructive canopy fire. The video below was cut short by an unfriendly encounter with a wasp nest, an ever-present menace along with all the poison oak.
The latest efforts here at Sudden Oak Life have involved the restoration of about 20 acres of oak woodland and native prairie habitat in the Central Coast. I have pulled together a strong team of workers who are well trained in the principles and practices of fire mimicry.
On one particular hillside young coast live oaks have been invading an adjacent prairie of native bunchgrasses dominated by California fescue. Coastal prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in California due to fire suppression and conversion to agricultural uses. In places, the oak trees have shaded out and all but replaced the native prairie species. Our work here focused on removing many of the woody shrubs and young oaks along the prairie margin, and thinning and pruning oaks in nearby woodlands that still support substantial bunchgrass cover. Efforts were made to preserved many of the native understory species including toyon, currant, sage, and mountain mahogany. All the removed oaks were less than 6″ in diameter, per county regulations.
Here are several time-lapse videos from today showing our efforts to prepare a grove of ancient coast live oaks for reintroduction of cultural fire via fire mimicry. Notice that our focus is on removing ladder fuels in ensure that any cultural fires remain on the ground (good fire), rather than spreading into the canopies (bad fire).
Sudden Oak Life 
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