Post-fire Management

Post-fire Reforestation Considerations

Ryan Tompkins, Forestry & Natural Resources Advisor for Plumas-Sierra and Lassen counties, broadly covers, for the Sierra Nevada, post-fire reforestation considerations, reforestation resources, and examples of managing fuel loads and competing vegetation in plantations to improve resiliency of re-establishing dry mixed conifer forest ecosystems in the 21st century. 

Understanding Wildfire Impacts 

Rich Casale, Certified Professional erosion and Sediment Control Specialist, shares post fire restoration help such as erosion and sediment control advice, assessment of hazardous trees, concerns related to water course impacts, slopes, access roads, debris issues, damages from fire fighting efforts, etc. The ultimate goal of the presentation is to provide an understanding of the role of nature and processes in place in the post fire landscape so that fire victims/landowners and advisors (including contractors) can be better prepared and can make wiser and technically correct decisions when addressing site specific post fire restoration issues.

Post-Fire Oak Survival and Regeneration

Michael Jones, UC Cooperative Extension Forest Advisor, discusses how oaks have different life history strategies for dealing with fire, how to assess burn damage in order to determine survival, presents on data collected following the 2018 River Fire to show how oak woodlands start to recover after fire, and concludes by talking about post-fire management considerations. This information is applicable to oak woodlands throughout California.

Lessons Learned from Redwood Forests: Post-fire Wildfire Survival and Regeneration

Yana Valachovic (Humboldt and Del Norte) and Michael Jones (Lake, Mendocino, and Sonoma), both UC Cooperative Extension Forest Advisors, discuss wildfire impacts on redwood forest systems. They review lightning-ignited fires over the last 20 years from Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Santa Cruz counties from old-growth and second-growth forest systems. They share information about understanding fire severity, assessing fire damage, predicting survival, and post-fire best management practices.  This presentation is recommended for landowners managing redwood forests.

Fire and Smoke Damage Mitigation in Vineyards

Glenn McGourty discusses how in any location, wine grapes may be ruined when exposed to smoke from wildfires. Volatile phenolic compounds found in fresh smoke are absorbed by the leaves and fruit of wine grapes during wild fire events. These compounds bind with sugar in the fruit when the wine grapes are crushed and come into contact with skins during processing. Our study investigates how proximity to fires wind direction, temperature and fruit maturity affect the degree of damage known as "smoke taint" to fruit. 

Wildfire Impacts on Orchards

Kat Jarvis-Shean, Orchard Systems Advisor in Yolo, Solano and Sacramento Counties, walks through the different ways that fire can impact orchards, the signs of damage, the timing of when to expect to see those signs, and what steps to consider based on the damage observed in the tree. Examples are from temperate orchards (e.g. olives, walnuts), so this is most relevant to Northern California growers. However, many of the considerations are relevant for sub-tropical orchards as well (e.g. citrus, avocado). Developed in collaboration with Ben Faber, UC Cooperative Extension Ventura County.

Post-Fire Produce Safety

Julia VanSoelen-Kim, food systems advisor for the northern San Francisco Bay Area, discusses the effects of smoke and ash on produce, some soil contaminant issues, defines how the risks are assessed, and talks about the relative risks of consuming produce grown in ash contaminated areas.