After the fire

[TBark]

Curious,
Never had a burn out in the area we are currently having south of Sunset House close to our cabin property.

This beast was close to our property.
It started Weds from lightning strike 14 km south us, by Fri it was 3km away due to the SE howler blowing in.

Wind shifted to from NW on Fri-Saturday & Rain is forecasted tomorrow and 2-3 more days over the week.
So considering we will be lucky and not lose our cabins nor our out-buildings.
What now happens to the burnt areas for the rest of this year, and next few years?

Will there be growth through this summer? Or no growth?
And the forests jack pine areas will be gone I’m sure, but the majority being tall poplar with some birch, with branches and leave starting 2/3 up the tree...
Will these trees still be standing with just some charred bark?

Will the critters stay in the fringes of the burn, or vacate for the year, or more?And will the burn cycle of the forest product those treasured morels next spring?

Will likely be up there in a few weeks to check the damage, but thought I’d post and ask.

TBark

[3blade]

Hard to say till it happens

Best is a quick fire that leaves islands of unburned trees, seeds in the ground, and standing burnt trees. That rejuvenates quickly and provides excellent forage starting with fireweed and progressing through grass, forbs and aspen/poplars, for years

If it’s a fallen down tangled up smoking mess that burned too hot, and keeps reigniting on the edges, it’ll be years before anything good comes of it.

[6.5 shooter]

The first good rain will show you a totally new world. Habitat for ungulates and other furry friends. Soon moose will be grazing at your door step.

[Desert Eagle]

Along where I work we have had 2 large burns. Where the heat wasn’t crazy hot there was green grass within a week, and very lush looking within 2-3 weeks. In a few areas where it was a significant amount of spruce/pine it has been very slow to come back. That being said there is a lot of fringe type area that has been created with the poplar areas and these might be new hotspots to be chasing critters in.

Most of the area where I grew up and have been hunting for the past 20 years burnt this year. Now that I’m not in the area I really want to go see the impacts and what it might look like this fall if I am able to make it up that way.

[Pathfinder76]

It’s flooding in places down south here where a fairly recent fire ravaged the place. Not good. At all.

[huntinstuff]

Years ago I lost my guiding area and gear in the Marguerite River area after a fire went through.

3 years later it was moose heaven. Grouse, ptarmigan, berry bushes, willow and new poplars. Small spruce too

Rain, snow and wind. They have a way of renewing the damage.

Personally, in most cases, I see fire as a vital resource. Of course I dont mean people losing their farms or towns etc.....but a true wildland fire.

[Sundancefisher]

After the Yellowstone fire the area came back hard and lush.

Rain will bring new growth. Fires are destroyers of nature but rather rejuvenators. Forests aren’t meant to stagnate and never change. Many animals rely on this process.

http://fs-web.sefs.uw.edu/classes.es...fire/index.htm

Forest fires aren’t bad. Never allowing natural fires means a higher risk on monster fires due to years of accumulated fuel.

Pick some spots in the area and take regular photo and document the changes over time. Then put the photos together for a time lapse video. It will be cool to see in a few years.

[Tungsten,]

When you turn onto hwy 93 west of Calgary heading too Radium.The fire damage is quite noticeable and year after year it doesn't appear to be much re growth.
Assuming the fire was quite hot when it went through?Not sure what year that happened.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by Tungsten,

When you turn onto hwy 93 west of Calgary heading too Radium.The fire damage is quite noticeable and year after year it doesn't appear to be much re growth.
Assuming the fire was quite hot when it went through?Not sure what year that happened.

You would need to get close to the ground to see what plants have come back. From the highway likely harder to tell.

Driving through Yellowstone a year or two after the fire it looked like a wasteland. Got out and walked a trail and one could see the new growth.

Water is a big difference maker. After a dry spell everything turns brown.

[Grizzly Adams1]

I was in Waterton 2 years ago, hard to believe just how fast the landscape came back, fire is common in Nature and she is resilient, but it's a progression longer than our life times. Can't expect it to be the same over night.

Grizz

[leo]

Just watch yourselves diligently! That fire will have pushed the Grizz and Cougar to unburnt areas as well.

[Drewski Canuck]

For the Forestry industry fire is a super bonanza.

Dead Standing spruce will be salvage logged and no stumpage is due. The Loggers have 2 years to get the wood down as it starts to drop in quality after that.

The dead standing trees typically are big spruce, and as fire killed, make really good dimensional wood with low kiln dry time.

Any dead standing Poplar will go to the OSB mill or can be used by Kraft Paper mills like Alpac. Again, no stumpage.

Rules are out the door on the burn area as for cutting and with no undergrowth the burn piles are pretty small for what cannot be taken as salvage. If you drove from Highway 88 to Wabasca you will see how the logging started as soon as the fires stopped. Everything was taken down, and went to Mitsue to the mills.

Fire areas can be poor regrowth if the organic material burned out of the soil. Then it is grass for a number of years. This happened at Slave Lake in 1997 and for many years there was poor recruitment of poplar and willow due to the lack of organic soil. Seedlings replanted did very poorly in the poor quality soil left from the very hot fire. Same thing in Fort McMurray where the fire was very hot and actually burned out the peat bogs sometimes 10 feet deep.

So depending on where it is, and what it is, and how hot it is, that will dictate the forest regrowth.

Drewski

[Big Grey Wolf]

1) First 1-5 years you will have lots of fireweed.
2) Next 10-20 years shrubs like choke cherry, willow will start to re-establish.
3) Next 20-50 years some poplar, birch and aspen will grow.
4) Next 50 -100 years larger spruce and pine forest will establish.
Most animals will re establish their presence during phases 3-4. Some large mammals like moose, elk and deer will pass through area in early years when displaced by wolves, hunters, bears etc.
Welcome to the Alberta Foothills for our next generation children.

[Sooner]

Originally Posted by Tungsten,

When you turn onto hwy 93 west of Calgary heading too Radium.The fire damage is quite noticeable and year after year it doesn't appear to be much re growth.
Assuming the fire was quite hot when it went through?Not sure what year that happened.

We camped in Radium for years. Prior to that big fire and after. Driving through the destroyed valley the first year after was sad. Year after year you could see the new growth coming after the fire. Years later, you just see the top halves of the burnt trees now. I would say most of that valley is well on its way as far as re growth.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by Sooner

We camped in Radium for years. Prior to that big fire and after. Driving through the destroyed valley the first year after was sad. Year after year you could see the new growth coming after the fire. Years later, you just see the top halves of the burnt trees now. I would say most of that valley is well on its way as far as re growth.

Exactly. Bearing in mind that the mountain climate has a shorter growing season than the prairies and foothills too...

I recall as a youngster, regularly stopping at the original site of the '68 burn, and just marveling at the destruction that fire caused. Then year over year, seeing how the area has regrown, it was a study in how beneficial that fire actually was.

Now if you read the Fireweed Trail guide, it states, "Can you spot any marks left by this fire?"

[JohninAB]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

For the Forestry industry fire is a super bonanza.

Dead Standing spruce will be salvage logged and no stumpage is due. The Loggers have 2 years to get the wood down as it starts to drop in quality after that.

The dead standing trees typically are big spruce, and as fire killed, make really good dimensional wood with low kiln dry time.

Any dead standing Poplar will go to the OSB mill or can be used by Kraft Paper mills like Alpac. Again, no stumpage.

Rules are out the door on the burn area as for cutting and with no undergrowth the burn piles are pretty small for what cannot be taken as salvage. If you drove from Highway 88 to Wabasca you will see how the logging started as soon as the fires stopped. Everything was taken down, and went to Mitsue to the mills.

Fire areas can be poor regrowth if the organic material burned out of the soil. Then it is grass for a number of years. This happened at Slave Lake in 1997 and for many years there was poor recruitment of poplar and willow due to the lack of organic soil. Seedlings replanted did very poorly in the poor quality soil left from the very hot fire. Same thing in Fort McMurray where the fire was very hot and actually burned out the peat bogs sometimes 10 feet deep.

So depending on where it is, and what it is, and how hot it is, that will dictate the forest regrowth.

Drewski

Timber dues (stumpage) will be payable at a reduced rate though unless the appropriate sections of the Timber Management Regulation have been amended since 2018.

[NayNay]

The fires in that area this year are crazy. Hope your place makes it through ok.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Exactly. Bearing in mind that the mountain climate has a shorter growing season than the prairies and foothills too...

A lot less top soil in mountains as well, more susceptible to fire damage and takes longer to recover. Easy to see in the Red Deer River Valley where the Dog rib fire burned across the valley in 2001, still not much recovery in the rocks.

Grizz

[walking buffalo]

Consider yourself lucky to have this new habitat to enjoy.
The wildlife does.
I think you will find the regeneration process to be fascinating, and overwhelmingly impressive.

[catnthehat]

I saw lots of deer and moose in burned out areas from two years before.
The bush will come back, no worries.
Cat

[58thecat]

She greens up in short order and the critters come back....you enjoy the hunt.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Guys, next time you cut a large spruce or pine tree, just count the rings. You will normally have 50 to more than 100 rings. Just for record, each ring represents 1 year of regrowth after a fire.