Conifer regeneration after forest fire in the Klamath-Siskiyous: How much, how soon?

The increasing frequency and extent of forest fires in the western United States has raised concerns over postfire management actions on publicly owned forests. Information on ecosystem recovery after disturbance is locking and has led to heated debate and speculation regarding the return of forest vegetation after disturbance and the need for management actions. One critical question emerges, will these ecosystems recover on their own, and if so, over what time frame? We report on one aspect of recovery, the spatial and temporal variation of natural conifer regeneration evident 9-19 years after forest fires in California and Oregon. In contrast to expectations, generally, we found natural conifer regeneration abundant across a variety of settings. Management plans can benefit greatly from using natural conifer regeneration but managers must face the challenge of long regeneration periods and he able to accommodate high levels of variation across the landscape of a fire.