SANTA CRUZ ISLAND : Controlled Burn to Help Regenerate Trees
To help regenerate bishop pine trees on Santa Cruz Island, fire officials today will continue a two-day controlled burn of 1,200 acres on the northern portion of the island.
On Tuesday, flames passed over 800 acres of the island 28 miles off the Ventura coast. The remaining 400 acres will be burned today beginning at 9 a.m. if weather permits.
Sarah Chaney, a botanist with the National Park Service, said this is the first time a controlled burn has been directed at a stand of bishop pines on the island.
Pines, she said, need a fire or intense heat to force the resin-sealed cones open. The seeds then fall to the ground and thrive in the blackened soil.
“The idea of a fire is to restore a stand that has a lot of dead or decadent wood,” she said.
Fire becomes even more important after a period of drought because the older trees are weakened and more susceptible to bark beetles, she said.
The burn is being conducted jointly by the National Park Service, California Department of Forestry and California Conservation Corps in cooperation with the Nature Conservancy.
The conservancy owns 90% of the island. The rest belongs to the National Park Service.
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