Coast live oaks before and after fire mimicry

My latest results of coast live oaks before and after fire mimicry treatments.

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More coast live oaks in Piedmont, CA respond to fire mimicry

Here are some other coast live oaks in Piedmont, CA, all of which have responded to fire mimicry treatments in just one year.

Coast live oaks and coast redwood in Piedmont, CA respond to fire mimicry

Yesterday I inspected and re-photographed several ailing coast live oaks and a coast redwood in Piedmont, CA that were treated with fire mimicry one year ago. The photos indicate that all of the trees show clear improvement in canopy density and lushness. Thank you for taking notice of, and sharing, these important results!

Fire mimicry results from Piedmont, CA

Here are some recent results from a grove of mature coast live oaks in Piedmont, CA treated with fire mimicry for the past 5 years. Most of the oaks are showing lusher, greener canopies, although one oak (shown below) has succumb to Sudden Oak Death. The remaining oaks have no sign of disease.

A Decade of Fire Mimicry

Dead an dying coast live oak trees in Big Sur, CA

The past decade has been a tough one on California oaks. Tens of thousands of oaks have died and many more are in distress, simply because they are no longer being tended. For millennia the Indigenous People of California used, and still use, fire to improve the health of the native trees and forests.

Also over the past decade I and others have been tasked with restoring to health many of these oaks. During this time we have tended well over 1,000 oaks and other trees, with mostly positive, if not remarkable, results. Due to the severely overgrown nature of fire-suppressed forests, applying fire is not an immediate option. Therefore, we have been developing tending practices that mimic fire in ways that benefit the oaks.

Below are a selection of oaks, one per year of this past decade, that have inspired me to stay committed to tending our oaks. Many of these are legacies of the indigenous past and will, with our help, continue to be legacies in our future.

A decade of healing oaks . . .

Hearst Castle oak – 2010

Fairfax oak – 2011

Four years of fire mimicry on oaks in Piedmont, CA

in 2015 I began applying fire mimicry treatments to a grove of sick coast live oaks. Yesterday I checked on their status. Here are the photographic comparisons showing that the density and greenness of the oak canopies has increased noticeably after four years of treatments. However, two severely diseased oaks did not respond to the treatments during this period and had to be removed. Fortunately, the remaining oaks appear healthier and the prognosis for recovery is good.

Valley oaks in Walnut Creek, CA respond to fire mimicry

I recently inspected a grove of sick valley oaks that have been treated with fire mimicry for the past two years. The results are very encouraging. Most of the oaks have responded with a noticeable increase in canopy greenness and density. Note that valley oaks do not contract sudden oak death disease, but are still declining in many places. They, too, are generally suffering from a lack of ground fires. Fortunately, these results point to a way forward for improving the health of our great valley oaks using fire mimicry practices.

Saving the redwoods with fire mimicry in Oakland, CA

Two years ago I began treating these coast redwood trees growing in Oakland, CA using a fire mimicry protocol. Here are the results. The redwoods are showing noticeable improvement in canopy size and density after only two years.

Saving the redwoods isn’t just about keeping them from being cut down. It also requires that we tend them, as the California native people did for thousands of years!

Valley oak health improved with fire mimicry care

Two years ago I treated a number of valley oaks in Alamo, CA using a fire mimicry protocol. Here are photos of the oaks showing their response over the past 2 years. As you can see, there has been a notable improvement in the density and size of the leaf canopies both in 2017 and 2018. However, the photos in 2018 were taken a bit earlier than the original photos, which could explain some of the difference in canopy density.

Or maybe I’m just a Photoshop magician! There is a way to find out . . .

Fire mimicry reverses decline in coast redwoods

As I’ve discussed  previously (here), coast redwoods in many areas are showing symptoms of dieback, typically beginning towards the top and progressing downward. Drought and disease have been implicated in the redwood decline, but the true cause remains elusive. I suspect the decline is ultimately related to the altered fire ecology.

In October 2016 I applied fire mimicry treatments to a grove of coast redwoods in Alamo, CA that were in decline. Here are the results after two years.