Chaparral Wisdom
To celebrate the magic and beauty of Nature & the chaparral
Alpine View Point – Field research: impact of frequent fire on chaparral
Being inspired to discover the truth can come from many directions.
Our current field research study has been stimulated by a recent claim that frequent fire had not harmed a particular patch of chaparral we are very familiar with – below the history-rich Alpine View Point overlook off Interstate Highway 8 in San Diego County. Our motivation recalls Thomas C. Chamberlin’s insightful paper back in 1890. He wrote,
“To be sure, truth may be brought forth by an investigator dominated by a false ruling idea. His very errors may indeed stimulate investigation on the part of others.”
– Thomas C. Chamberlin, 1890
So alas, down into the canyon we plunged this past weekend, with GPS gear, 50 meter tapes, recording journals, and a lot of water.
Briefly, this area has been impacted by three fires as shown in the figure below: 1970, 2001, and 2003. We wanted to determine the difference in biodiversity between the 2001 Viejas Fire area and the area that burned again in 2003.
We ran six, 50 meter transects, three in each study area, and recorded the cover and species directly under the transect tape line. We also recorded the percent cover and species composition of three one-square-meter quadrants at the beginning, middle, and end of each transect. We will be returning to the site several times to collect more data.
It is too early to come to any definite conclusions, but from a general overview of the data, the twice-burned area had significantly more bare ground than the once burned area, suggesting that the second fire negatively impacted the area’s species composition and cover.
We were tempted to hike down to the Sweetwater River during lunch as we heard its refreshing sounds filtering up through the chaparral below us. However, we knew we still had a lot of work ahead of us and needed to conserve our energy. The steep hike back up to the cars is enough to wipe out even the most experienced Chaparralian. So we were content to enjoy the occasional bit of beauty that met us along the transect lines.
More to come.
Chaparral Wisdom 