Bringing fire back: The changing regimes of the Appalachian mixed-oak forests

Abstract

Since vegetative associations stabilized about 4,000 years ago, the Appalachian mixed-oak forests have experienced three profoundly different fire regimes. Periodic, low-intensity surface fires lit by American Indians characterized the first regime, and this regime helped perpetuate oak as one of the dominant species groups. The Industrial Revolution led to high-intensity, stand-replacing fires, causing extensive damage to the forests. Modern fire protection created a "no-fire" regime that permitted the forests to recover but allowed mesophytic species to begin replacing the oaks. Today, research is under way to identify how to reintroduce fire to solve this oak replacement problem.