PROCEEDINGS TALL TIMBERS TALL PROCEEDINGS 23rd FIRE ECOLOGY TIMBERS CONFERENCE FIRE ECOLOGY Fire in Grassland & Shrubland Ecosystems CONFERENCE Edited by Ronald E. Masters and Krista E.M. Galley No. 23 2007 Tall Timbers Research Station Tallahassee, Florida, USA ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A great deal of time, expense, and yes, even blood, well; Dr. Brian Oswald, Stephen F. Austin University; sweat, and tears goes into organizing and running a Dr. Kevin Robertson; Melanie Miller; Dr. Neil Sugi- successful conference. A conference is never complete hara, USDA Forest Service; and Doug Cram, New until the ink is dry and the proceedings are finally in Mexico State University. hand or on-screen as the case may be. We acknowl- We give special thanks to our Plenary Speakers, Dr. edge the fantastic support and assistance that made yet Winston Trollope, University of Fort Hare, South Af- another Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference a suc- rica; Dr. Tom Bragg, University of Nebraska; and Dr. cessful endeavor. First and foremost, special thanks go Charles Kay, Utah State University; and to our Ban- to Kaye Gainey and Lisa Baggett, Administrative As- quet Speaker, Dr. Carlton Britton, Texas Tech Univer- sistants, Tall Timbers Research Station, who worked sity. The Seventh E.V. Komarek, Sr. Fire Ecology Lec- on all aspects of the conference from initial organi- turer, Dr. Trollope, made a wonderful presentation ty- zation, arrangements, to assistance on-site, organizing ing together an important piece of Tall Timbers history the poster session, and sending out papers for review. with the development of fire ecology in Africa. We We also thank Rose Rodriguez, Information Resources appreciate the contributions of our plenary speakers— Manager, Tall Timbers Research Station, who guided Dr. Bragg, for his thoughtful talk on contrasts and sim- Web site development, published materials, and coor- ilarities of grasslands on two continents; and Dr. Kay, dinated arrangements with conference site personnel. for his compelling perspective on the influence of ab- We gratefully acknowledge the steering committee original fire on North American ecosystems. We also members who helped with organizing program topics thank Dr. Britton, our banquet speaker, who paid elo- and session content and the outstanding field trip. They quent tribute to one of the great fire ecologists of all included Bob Hamilton, The Nature Conservancy; time, Dr. Henry Wright. Drs. Dave Engle, Terry Bidwell, Sam Fuhlendorf, and The 23rd Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference Or- John Weir of Oklahoma State University’s Rangeland ganizing Committee gratefully acknowledges the sup- Ecology and Management Program; and Melanie Mill- port of our many sponsors: Tall Timbers Research Sta- er with the USDI Bureau of Land Management. Bob tion; Joint Fire Science Program; The Nature Conser- Hamilton deserves special credit and thanks for his vancy; Rangeland Ecology and Management Program, organizational efforts on the field trip and for sharing Oklahoma State University; Southeast Fire Ecology the wonders of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve with con- Partnership; USDI Bureau of Land Management; ference participants. USDI National Park Service; U.S. Fish and Wildlife We thank the team that worked behind the scenes Service; USDA Forest Service; The Association for with audiovisual and lights: Eric Staller, Tom Ostertag, Fire Ecology; National Interagency Prescribed Fire and Dr. Kevin Robertson, all of Tall Timbers Research Training Center; Oklahoma Chapter, Society for Range Station. We also appreciate our moderators who kept Management; and Society for Range Management. things up-tempo and moving smoothly between pre- sentations and sessions. They included Dr. Terry Bid- REM, KEMG Proceedings of the Invasive Species Workshop: The Role of Fire in the Control and Spread of Invasive Species Fire Conference 2000: The First National Congress on Fire Ecology, Prevention, and Management November 27–December 1, 2000 San Diego, California Sponsored by: The Association for Fire Ecology Joint Fire Science Program Tall Timbers Research Station The Nature Conservancy International Association of Wildland Fire In cooperation with University Extension, University of California, Davis RECOMMENDED CITATION FORMATS Entire volume: R.E. Masters and K.E.M. Galley (eds.). 2007. Proceedings of the 23rd Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference: Fire in Grassland and Shrubland Ecosystems. Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida, USA. Individual papers: Trollope, W.S.W. 2007. Fire—a key factor in the ecology and management of African grasslands and savannas. Pages 2–14 in R.E. Masters and K.E.M. Galley (eds.). Proceedings of the 23rd Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference: Fire in Grassland and Shrubland Ecosystems. Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida, USA. ISSN 0082-1527 NOTICE TO READERS: To find a comprehensive on-line author–title–subject index to the Twenty- third Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference Proceedings, please visit the Tall Timbers website at www.talltimbers.org. The index is part of the Tall Timbers E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database, which is linked to the home page. There is no charge to access the database. All 23 Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference Proceedings, fully indexed and with abstracts, are included in the database. Published by: Tall Timbers Research Station 13093 Henry Beadel Drive Tallahassee, FL 32312, USA www.talltimbers.org ᭧ 2007, Tall Timbers Research, Inc. Printed by Allen Press, Inc. Lawrence, Kansas, USA FIRE IN GRASSLAND & SHRUBLAND ECOSYSTEMS An International Symposium 17–20 October 2005 Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA Sponsors The Nature Conservancy Joint Fire Science Program USDI Bureau of Land Management National Park Service US Fish & Wildlife Service USDA Forest Service National Interagency The Association for Fire Ecology Prescribed Fire Training Center Society for Range Management Southeast Fire Ecology Partnership Oklahoma State University Oklahoma Section of the Division of Agricultural Sciences Society for Range Management & Natural Resources PREFACE Ronald E. Masters Tall Timbers Research Station, 13093 Henry Beadel Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32312, USA Tall Timbers’ Fire Ecology Conferences were begun complexes, which are some of the most rapidly in 1962 by Tall Timbers Research Station to provide declining systems globally. These systems developed an international forum for discussion of research and under the interactive influence of fire and grazing and research needs in the area of fire ecology and to browsing animals—a fact often lost to or ignored by promote the use of fire as a management tool. Early plant ecologists. Large native herbivores are gone from on, these conferences provided the synergy needed to the landscapes of North America; some would argue promote recognition of fire’s natural role in the that domesticated species can fill a surrogate role. The environment. Indeed, the early conferences provided steering committee members have had numerous the focal point for an emerging new field—fire running discussions over the past decade about how ecology. Winston Trollope’s paper in these various grazing niches interacted with fire along proceedings confirms this. Prior to the convening of environmental gradients and at the landscape level. As these conferences, very few papers were published on grassland species of wildlife have declined, it has fire. Scientists and managers were often ostracized if become increasingly clear that the interactive influence the topic of fire was broached in a positive light. The of these forms of natural disturbance is essential to times, ‘‘they have changed’’—a recent Google search perpetuate a number of habitat-specialist grassland on the Internet pulled up 366,000 hits on ‘‘fire species. Because many of these ideas were being tested ecology.’’ Yet the vast majority of the urban public on The Nature Conservancy’s Tallgrass Prairie still fails to see the essential role of fire in the Preserve in Northeast Oklahoma, this location came to environment. the forefront as an ideal venue for the 23rd Conference. On a periodic basis, conference themes have This conference specifically highlights new research focused on fire in specific ecosystems where research regarding native grazing and patch-burning has brought new knowledge to light and where open interactions. Another conference goal was to increase scientific discourse would help refine research and the awareness of current invasive plant problems in management direction and thought. At other times, these systems and how fire may be used in control they have incited paradigm shifts. The proceedings of efforts. As always, a major objective of these these conferences are unique in that they are peer- conferences was to facilitate interaction between reviewed. This 23rd conference continues the long- scientists and land managers to the end of application standing tradition begun by Ed and Roy Komarek. of research-based knowledge on fire-managed working The objectives of the 23rd Tall Timbers Fire Ecology landscapes. There were 37 oral and 19 poster Conference were to focus on the ecology of fire in presentations during the conference, and 166 grasslands and shrublands and on grassland–woodland participants from 27 states and 7 countries. CONTENTS Acknowledgments ............................................................................. ix Preface ....................................................................................... x Ronald E. Masters Seventh E.V. Komarek, Sr. Fire Ecology