Fire Impacts to Small Mammals in Piedmont Oak-shelterwoods
Successful regeneration of oaks on better sites (SI50>60) has proven difficult in recent decades due to competition from faster growing species and well-established advanced regeneration from more shade-tolerant species. The suppression of fire is thought to have played a critical role in allowing this largely fire-intolerant competition to dominate many upland hardwood forests at the expense of oaks. As part of a larger study examining the role of prescribed fire in regenerating upland oaks, seasonal prescribed burns were applied to first-stage shelterwood harvested stands on Horsepen...
