More info for the terms: crown fire, fire frequency, fire-resistant species, frequency, fresh, ladder fuels, lichen, litter, relict, severity, surface fire, tree, understory fire
Western larch is considered the most fire-resistant tree in its range [10,17,24,51,89,137]. Fire is an important part of western larch's ecology; without fire or other stand replacing disturbance, western larch will not regenerate successfully and will eventually be replaced by more shade-tolerant species [116].
Fire adaptations: Western larch has many adaptations that enhance its ability to either survive fire or to quickly colonize recently burned areas. While seedlings, saplings, and poles are somewhat susceptible to fire, trees that are 150 to 200 years old or older are able to survive all but the most severe fires [24,116]. It is common for a handful of mature western larch trees to be the sole survivors after fire [24]
Surviving fire: Western larch's extremely thick basal bark protects its cambium from overheating [10,24,48,49,92,116,126,143,155]. Low resin content and light lichen growth also decrease flammability [10,116,143]. Western larch's characteristic high, open crown; open stand habit; and self-pruning lower branches minimize ladder fuels and risk of crown fire [10,24,48,49,59,116,143]. Its deep roots are protected from surface and ground fires [24,49,59,143]. In a synthesis of the literature on northwestern tree species, Minore [93] ranked western larch's bark in the most fire resistant category and its foliage in the least resistant category. He ranked western larch the most fire resistant tree in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
Needles of western larch are less flammable than other species' due to their small size. Because they are never more than 5 months old, they maintain a higher water content than other conifers' needles that are replaced every 2 or 3 years [10,24,49,116,143]. Since western larch replaces its needles annually anyway, it is better adapted to defoliation than other conifers. In fact, after defoliation early in the season western larch trees often will produce a 2nd set of needles from heat-resistant woody buds and epicormic branches [10,17,36,48,89]. The small needles also minimize accumulation of surface litter at tree bases [24].
Postburn colonization: Western larch survivors quickly reseed burned-over areas; on mineral soil seedlings develop rapidly and outgrow competitors [10,48,58,85,116,126]. Fire-killed trees may contribute to seeding if fresh cones in the burned crown mature and disperse seed [10]. Seeds are very light and long-winged, allowing trees in nearby stands to reseed even if no onsite seed source is present [10,48]. Since western larch is a very long-lived and fire-resistant species, a potential seed source remains in the area for centuries once it has established [13].
FIRE REGIMES: Wildfires have occurred in western larch forests for over 10,000 years [10,30]. Barrett and others [20] suggest 2 FIRE REGIMES for western larch forests: 1) 25-75 year intervals between mixed-severity fires, and 2) 120-350 year intervals between primarily stand-replacing fires. While the species is primarily associated with these regimes, frequent surface FIRE REGIMES can also support western larch populations [8]. Frequency and severity of fires vary with elevation, aspect, and habitat type.
Frequent understory fires: Warm, dry sites at the lower elevations of western larch's range in western Montana have been characterized by frequent, low-intensity surface fires occurring at 10 to 30 year intervals. These habitat types include Douglas-fir and grand fir. Stand replacing fires occurred in some of these stands at 150- to 400-year intervals [7,10,60].
In ponderosa pine-western larch habitat in Pattee Canyon near Missoula, Montana, fire scars indicate a mean fire return interval of 7.1 years from 1557 to 1918. Fire occurred an average of every 5 to 10 years from 1750 to 1850, and in 10 to 20 year intervals from 1850 through 1900. After 1900, intensity and frequency of fires were reduced until the late 1900s, when high intensity fires swept through north and south slopes of the canyon [60].
In the Flathead National Forest of western Montana, underburning occurred on average every 20 to 30 years in even-aged ponderosa pine-western larch stands before 1900, with stand replacing fires occurring at 150- to 400-year intervals. From 1735 to 1900 in the grand fir habitat type of western Montana, an average fire return interval of 17 years (range 3-32) maintained western larch as the most abundant tree followed by lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir. Western larch was also found on 3 Douglas-fir habitat type sites with average intervals of 7 (range 2-28), 16 (range 4-29), and 19 (range 2-48) years [15].
Arno's [8] literature review reported that understory FIRE REGIMES prior to 1900 in ponderosa pine-mixed conifer habitat types of western North America favored western larch and other fire resistant species such as ponderosa pine and Jeffrey pine. From 1600 to 1900 in several relict habitat types where western larch occurs in western Montana, fire return intervals averaged 27 (range 17-35) years in the Douglas-fir-big huckleberry (V. membranaceum) type, 25-30 years in the Douglas-fir-dwarf huckleberry (Gaylussacia dumosa) type, and 24 (range 9-42) years in the subalpine fir-queen cup beadlily (Clintonia uniflora) type [7].
Mixed-severity fires: Much of the northern Rocky Mountains are characterized by 30- to 100-year-interval fires of varying severity, which favor open stands of western larch and Douglas-fir in Douglas-fir, western larch, and lodgepole pine habitat types [8,14]. In the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana, western larch-Douglas-fir-lodgepole pine and ponderosa pine forest types were historically maintained by mixed severity fire regimes. Many live western larches in this area had 1 to 3 fire scars, and 1 was found with 4 scars. Fire return intervals in this area are nearly twice as long as historic mean intervals [14].
In western larch-Douglas-fir forests of the North Fork of Glacier National Park, Montana, mean fire frequency from 1650 through 1935 was 36 years in relatively dry sites and 46 years in relatively moist sites. In the drier areas, up to 7 understory fires occurred between stand-replacing fires, which occurred at a mean interval of 141 years. Only 1 or 2 understory fires occurred between the less frequent stand-replacing fires (186-year mean intervals) on moister sites [20].
On dry subalpine fir and cool, moist Douglas-fir habitat types that were codominated by western larch, lodgepole pine, and Douglas-fir, average fire return intervals ranged between 30 and 75 years. Severity varied from understory burns to stand-replacing fires [10].
Infrequent stand-replacement fires: In western larch-Douglas-fir forests of northwestern Montana, average fire return intervals from 1735 to 1976 were 120 years in valleys and montane slopes and 150 years for subalpine slopes. Most fires were small and of moderate intensity with occasional patches of high intensity. Though some stands had as many as 6 fires during the period studied, most stands had only 1. A trend of decreasing mean frequency with increasing elevation was noted, and fires on north aspects were more intense and less frequent. Multiple burns occurred primarily on south-facing slopes. In these forests, single burns of low to moderate intensity thinned the overstory and tended to favor regeneration of mixed conifers with patches of seral species, while single intense burns resulted in even-aged forests. Intense, repeated burns (fire return interval <50 years) created shrubfields or homogeneous stands, usually of lodgepole pine [35].
From 1650 to 1935, relatively moist western larch-Douglas-fir forests in Glacier National Park had stand replacement fires at mean intervals of 140 to 340 years [20]. In subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce habitat types in the Middle Fork Drainage of Glacier National Park, Montana, lodgepole pine and western larch stand-replacement intervals were generally 150 to 300 years but as short as 25 years [19], and in grand fir habitat in the Swan Valley of Montana, stand-replacing fires occurred in average 150-year intervals, ranging from less than 20 to more than 300 years [2].
Moist sites of grand fir, subalpine fir, western redcedar, and western hemlock habitat types, which were dominated by western larch, lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, and Engelmann spruce, burned primarily as stand-replacement fires with average fire return intervals of 120 to 350 years [10].
In western redcedar-hemlock (Tsuga) forests of northern Idaho, fire free intervals ranged from 50 to 100 years with varied intensity. In subalpine fir habitat type, low to medium intensity fires occurred at intervals greater than 150 years [9].
FIRE REGIMES for plant communities and ecosystems where western larch is a common associate are summarized below.
Community or Ecosystem Dominant Species Fire Return Interval Range (years) grand fir Abies grandis 35-200 [8] Rocky Mountain juniper Juniperus scopulorum 103] western larch* Larix occidentalis 25-350 [2,4,6,7,8,9,10,14,15,19,20,35,60] Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir Picea engelmannii-Abies lasiocarpa 35 to > 200 [8] Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine* Pinus contorta var. latifolia 25-300+ [8,113] interior ponderosa pine* Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum 2-30 [8,18,87] Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir* Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca 25-100 [8,11,15] Oregon white oak Quercus garryana < 35 western redcedar-western hemlock Thuja plicata-Tsuga heterophylla > 200 mountain hemlock* Tsuga mertensiana 35 to > 200 [8] *fire return interval varies widely; trends in variation are noted in the species summary