The Effect of Controlled Burns on Abundance of Woody Species in Appalachian Pine-Oak Forests at Buck Mountain, West Virginia

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Each year, the US Forest Service uses prescribed fires within the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest (GWJNF). Burns are prescribed in the growing (late April–October) and dormant season (November–mid-April). The goal of the burns is to reinstate the natural fire regime, returning forests to their original species composition. Currently in GWJNF, Appalachian pine-oak forests are experiencing an increase in fire-intolerant species, while Quercus species and Gaylussacia brachycera, an endangered shrub species, are declining. In the summer of 2014, a vegetation survey was conducted on Buck Mountain, West Virginia, to determine if there was a significant difference between dormantand growing-season burns compared to a no-burn control. A total of 60 plots (15 per treatment) was established within a site burned once (in the dormant season), a site burned twice (dormant season burn followed by a growing-season burn), a site burned twice (both dormant season), and a site protected from fire ...