Multi-decadal establishment for single-cohort Douglas-fir forests

The rate at which trees regenerate following stand-replacing wildfire is an important but poorly understood process in the multi-century development of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) forests. Temporal patterns of Douglas-fir establishment reconstructed from old-growth forests (>450 year) have generated contradictory models of either rapid (100 year) periods of establishment, while patterns of tree establishment in mid-aged (100 to 350 year) forests remains largely unknown. To determine temporal patterns of Douglas-fir establishment following stand-replacing fire, increment cores were obtained from 1455 trees in 18 mature and early old-growth forests in western Washington and northwestern Oregon, USA. Each of the stands showed continuous regeneration of Douglas-fir for many decades following initiating fire. The establishment period averaged 60 years (range: 32–99 years). These results contrast both with the view of rapid (one- to two-decade) regeneration of Douglas-fir promoted in the early forestry literature and with reports of establishment periods exceeding 100 years in older (>400 year) Douglas-fir–western hemlock stands. These results have important implications for management designed to create and promote early-seral forest characteristics.