Giant Sequoia Regeneration in Groves Exposed to Wildfire and Retention Harvest

Fire Ecology

Table 1 Management and fire history in the Bearskin, Black Mountain, Case Mountain, and Redwood Mountain groves in the southern Sierra Nevada, California.

Grove	Management treatment^a	Wildfire severity^b	Wildfire year
Bearskin	Retention harvest, burning, planting	None	Before 1900
Black Mountain	Retention harvest, burning, planting	Low	2008
Case Mountain	None	Moderate	1987
Redwood Mountain	None	High	1987

^a Retention harvest included removal of all trees except 6 to 10 large diameter giant sequoia (one unit was clearcut in Bearskin grove) followed by prescribed or pile burning. Focal species for planting included giant sequoia in Bearskin grove and ponderosa pine in Black Mountain grove.
^b Fire severity class is based on tree mortality in the study area: low (<25 % mortality), medium (25 % to 75 %), and high (>75 %).