What happens to the land after the fire engines leave?

In this fifth conversation in our Living with Fire: Big Sur series, I talk with biogeographer, vegetation ecologist, teacher and conservation advocate Nikki Nedeff about the Timber and Plaskett Fires—not primarily as emergencies to be fought, but as ecological events whose consequences may unfold for decades.

Nikki grew up exploring the Carmel River and Los Padres National Forest, studied biogeography at UC Berkeley, and taught plant-community ecology at Cal State Monterey Bay for fifteen years. Her work has centered on understanding and protecting the extraordinarily varied landscapes of Monterey County.

Her starting point is deceptively simple: California vegetation isn't merely “adapted to fire.” It is adapted to a pattern of burning—a fire regime. How often does a place burn? How hot? In what season? Across what kind of terrain? And what happened there the last time it burned?

Too much fire, too soon, can change the vegetation itself. Forest can become shrubland; shrubland can give way to grassland; invasive annual grasses and shrubs can exploit disturbed ground and alter what burns the next time.

We talk about north- and south-facing slopes, fog and microclimates, logging and grazing, Indigenous burning, increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and nitrogen, invasive plants, old redwood forests that aren't always as “old growth” as they appear, and the ecological consequences of the firebreaks and dozer lines created to fight wildfire.

Nikki worries particularly about some of Big Sur's unusual conifers: Santa Lucia fir, ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir and incense-cedar. She wonders what has happened to a remarkable isolated dogwood near Logwood Creek—and what she will find when she returns to the Plaskett burn.

But burned country also holds surprises. Nikki is looking forward to the spring emergence of the “fire followers”: plants whose seeds may wait for years or decades until fire creates the conditions that allow them to germinate.

And then there is the coming winter.

Burned slopes above roads, streams and homes bring the possibility of erosion, washouts, landslides and debris flows. Nikki's advice to those of us who live here is simple: prepare, remain self-sufficient—and look after one another.

Plants mentioned in the conversation

Santa Lucia fir / bristlecone fir — Abies bracteata
A remarkable conifer found naturally only in the Santa Lucia Mountains. Nikki describes its vulnerability to fire and its tendency to survive in steep, rocky places where fire has difficulty carrying.

Pacific dogwood — probably Cornus nuttallii
The identification is probable rather than certain because Nikki simply calls it “dogwood.” Her description—large white floral bracts, a species otherwise associated with montane California, and an isolated Big Sur population—is consistent with Pacific dogwood. She calls the surviving Logwood Creek population the “Logwood Dogwood” and wonders whether it survived Timber.

Douglas-fir — Pseudotsuga menziesii
Nikki is particularly interested in what happened to Douglas-fir in the Willow Creek watershed during the Plaskett Fire.

Incense-cedar — Calocedrus decurrens
Another unusual Central Coast conifer occurring in scattered Santa Lucia populations.

Ponderosa pine — Pinus ponderosa
One of the conifers Nikki worries may have difficulty regenerating when fire returns before young trees become mature enough to reproduce.

Coast redwood — Sequoia sempervirens
Nikki reminds us that much of what looks ancient in Big Sur's redwood country is actually second- or even third-growth following historic logging.

Sargent cypress — Hesperocyparis sargentii
Found around serpentine outcrops in the South Coast/Los Burros country. Nikki is eager to see how these areas responded to Plaskett.

Harlequin lupine — Lupinus stiversii
The distinctive yellow-and-magenta lupine Nikki mentions among the wildflowers she hopes to see in the first post-fire spring.

Santa Lucia phacelia — Phacelia grisea
A California endemic occurring in the Santa Lucia Range and one of the post-fire flowers Nikki hopes to encounter.

Shortlobe phacelia — Phacelia brachyloba
The fire-following phacelia shown in Nikki's photograph after the 2020 Dolan Fire. This is distinct from the Santa Lucia phacelia mentioned in the conversation.

Splendid woodland-gilia — Saltugilia splendens
Formerly known as Gilia splendens. Another striking annual Nikki mentions among the post-fire wildflowers.

Chamise — Adenostoma fasciculatum
One of the characteristic shrubs of California chaparral and a vigorous post-fire resprouter.

Manzanita — Arctostaphylos spp.
Nikki speaks of watching for manzanitas resprouting; she doesn't identify a particular species.

Ceanothus — Ceanothus spp.
Another important chaparral group whose response depends greatly upon species and fire history.

California coffeeberry — Frangula californica
A native shrub Nikki expects to see resprouting.

French broom — Genista monspessulana
A highly invasive nonnative shrub. Nikki is particularly concerned about invasive species colonizing disturbed soil along firebreaks and suppression lines.

Coyote brush — Baccharis pilularis
Mentioned while discussing how disturbance can maintain grassland by limiting shrub encroachment.

Nikki also discusses willows (Salix spp.), cottonwoods (Populus spp.), bulrushes, native perennial grasses and invasive annual grasses without identifying particular species.

All comments much welcomed!

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This podcast is a production of the Henry Miller Memorial Library with support from The Arts Council for Monterey County!

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