FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : (click here)
Periodic fires tend to favor oak over over the less fire-resistant
hickory. The slow-growing, thin-barked shagbark hickory is reduced by
short fire intervals. Frequent burning at prairie margins reduces
or eliminates shagbark hickory seedlings.
Fire suppression in parts of the Northeast has reduced fire frequency
and converted oak-hickory forests to more mesophytic stands.
However, in an oak-hickory forest in Indiana, fire suppression since
1917 has contributed to the recruitment of shagbark hickory, sugar
maple, white ash (Fraxinus americana), and American elm (Ulmus
americana). Increases in tree density in oak-hickory forests in
Michigan have also been attributed to fire suppression. In the
Great Smoky Mountains, fire suppression since 1940 has allowed hickories
to reach fire-resistant size.
Shagbark hickory usually sprouts from the root crown or stembase after
abovegrund foliage is killed by fire. Seedling establishement may also
occur.
Burn, babe, burn is not the answer for healthy forests. Mature trees can be fire
resistant.
