Survival and regrowth : assessing red oak recovery after the 2023 Shelburne Wildfire

Abstract

Wildfire disturbance events are increasing in both frequency and intensity across Canada. Historically, due to their proximity to the ocean, Maritime natural disturbances have been limited primarily to strong wind events such as hurricanes. However, climate models suggest an increased prominence in these provinces experiencing fire activity. Between May and June of 2023, three major wildfires were reported in Nova Scotia, affecting over 25,000 hectares of land. The biggest of which was located in Shelburne County. By the time this fire was completely extinguished, it had become the biggest wildfire in recorded Nova Scotian history. There is a need to understand how wildfire events affect the intricate dynamics of forest succession and forest health. Northern red oak (<i>Quercus rubra</i>) is the only native species of red oak found throughout Nova Scotia and possesses natural traits that make it more resistant to the damage caused by wildfire events. This study examined whether the natural traits of the red oak species yielded any favourable results on the survival and regrowth rates of red oak during secondary succession. Variables studied included char height, species density, and coppice regrowth. These variables were compared against red maple (<i>Acer rubrum</i>) and further towards plots of different fire intensities. The dead count for both species increased throughout the fire plots. When compared to different levels of fire intensity, greater fire intensity had a smaller effect on the dead count of red oak as compared to red maple. The fire plots not only were shown to have more coppice growth for both red oak and red maple, but also fire plots of greatest intensity were shown to have the most red oak coppice growth.