Beneficial Mixed Severity Fire Effects in the Upper Applegate Fire
A mosaic of fire in the Upper Applegate Fire area. Notice the mostly low severity fire affects on the forested ridges below. Most of the conifer forests, including those that contained significant beetle mortality burned at low to moderate severity during this fire event. The forests of Mill Gulch in this photo are unlogged, mature to late successional forests enhanced by the mix severity fire effects.
We recently hiked into the Upper Applegate Fire which burned this summer on Cinnabar Ridge in the Buncom Roadless Area, located between the Upper Applegate and Little Applegate Valleys. What we found was an extraordinary mixed severity fire mosaic with highly beneficial fire effects.
Although the fire was concerning for nearby communities and threatened the homes of our friends and neighbors around the Applegate Valley, now that the threat to communities is long gone, we can look at the actual effects of the fire, and we found those effects to be ecologically beneficial.
The mixed severity fire effects are characteristic for the region, and in the next few years the abundance of wildflowers and regrowth will be beautiful. All and all, the Upper Applegate Fire footprint has restored fire as a natural process to the Buncom Roadless Area, reduced fuels on a strategic ridgeline, and maintained high quality wildlife habitats.
A characteristic pattern of mixed severity fire. Notice how the gray snag patch created by flatheaded fir borer mortality in 2022, and at the center of the photo underburned at low severity. The dead standing trees in the area did not contribute to excessive fire intensity, severity or spread. In fact, they appear to have moderated fire severity in many locations.
We are sorry to those this fire affected in the human communities that surround the wildfire footprint and are grateful that no homes or structures were lost. At the same time, we see value in the process of fire on this landscape and are excited to see the beneficial effect of fire on the slopes of Cinnabar Ridge.
This was an accidental, human-caused fire, but now that folks surrounding it can feel safe and the winter rains have begun, we hope folks can watch the fire footprint the next few years, enjoy the beauty of the process, and appreciate the benefits that mixed severity fire can bring to these habitats. When we look at this fire objectively, we see short-term, but real impacts on our neighbors in the communities directly surrounding this fire, but we also see long-term benefits from a biological standpoint. It is both, and should be appreciated as such.
A beautiful open grown oak underburned in the Upper Applegate Fire.
Upper Applegate Fire Effects
Relatively high severity in chaparral habitat overlooking the Upper Applegate Valley. The majority of the snag patches created during recent beetle mortality outbreaks underburned! Notice the lack of scorch on the green canopy at the center, demonstrating the low severity fire effects and low flame lengths.A wide variety of white oak habitat burned and should respond positively to the fire effects.Chaparral habitats burned at high severity during the first windy afternoon and will host extensive wildflowers the next few years.This forest was once proposed for aggressive logging in the Bobar Timber Sale, but was saved by Applegate Siskiyou Alliance as we were first forming (as Applegate Neighborhood Network). The BLM claimed this forest would burn at high severity if affected by fire, but instead burned at low severity in the understory beneath the large trees and high canopy. A mixed fire mosaic in chaparral, grassland, oak woodland and conifer forests near Cinnabar Ridge.White oak stands will sprout from the branches and will recover quickly from this past summers canopy scorch.A view from the Upper Applegate Fire to the Siskiyou Crest and Red Buttes Wilderness at the headwaters of the Applegate River. This stand and others burned at low severity in the Upper Applegate Fire partially because the overstory canopy was not logged in the Bobar Timber Sale, the large fire resistant trees were not removed, the canopy was not heavily compromised, and the understory remained relatively suppressed by overstory shade. If the stand had been logged it would have responded with an increase in even-aged, low-statured, and highly flammable shrubs, grasses, young hardwoods and sapling stage conifers in the understory. Instead forest duff and a light population of forest shrubbery burned at low to moderate severity maintaining and enhancing the unlogged forests in the Buncom Roadless Area.A mixed severity fire mosaic in the Buncom Roadless Area has enhanced biodiversity, reduced fuel loading on a strategic ridgeline, and restored fire to a landscape last burned in the 1972 Little Applegate Fire.
