Vegetation recovery in sedge meadow communities within the Red Bench Fire, Glacier National Park
Willard EE, Wakimoto RH, Ryan KC. 1995. Vegetation recovery in sedge meadow communities within the Red Bench Fire, Glacier National Park. Pages 102-110. In Cerulean SI and Engstrom RT: Fire in wetlands: a management perspective Proceedings of the Tall timber Ecology Conference, No 19. Oxford, UK
"The Red Bench Fire of 1988 was the most significant fire to occur within the North Fork of the Flathead River drainage since 1926. Several wet sedge meadows were burned within Glacier National Park. To determine the effects of fire on vegetation recovery in these sedge meadows, measurements were taken for 3 years postfire on permanent plots that included ground and vegetation cover, cover and constancy for individual plant species, vegetation similarity values, and plant community diversity. Percentages of bare ground decreased, while basal vegetative cover, total organic cover and litter cover increased. Graminoid cover remained relatively stable after the first year, while forb cover decreased. Carex rostrata rapidly increased in coverage and dominates the vegetative community. Two grasses and 7 forbs continued to increase in coverage during the period. Five graminoids and 8 forbs increased in constancy. Vegetation similarity values between years show that the plant community changed most the first year. Plant species vary considerably among plots. The average number of species per plot and species richness increased during the period. Overall diversity appears to have increased throughout the period."
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Willard, E; Wakimoto, Ronald; Ryan, Kevin
- Units
- CRCO , GLAC
- Keywords
- beaked sedge (Carex rostrata), Ecology, Fire Ecology, Glacier National Park MT, Meadows, Monitoring, North Fork Flathead River drainage Glacier National Park MT, Physical Sciences, Plant Studies, Plots, Recovery, Red Bench Fire Glacier National Park MT, Vegetation, Wetlands