Fire in North American Wetland Ecosystems and Fire-Wildlife Relations: An Annotated Bibliography

221. Shepherd, W. O., E. U. Dillard, and H. L. Lucas. 1951. Grazing and fire 
          influences in pond pine forests. N.C. Agric. Exp. Stn. Tech. Bull. 
          97. [57 pp.]

Cane is an important forage and a constituent of the pond pine forest found in coastal plain lowlands. On experimental sites at the edge of a pocosin, protection from grazing favored cane in competition from shrubs following fire. Burning, however, increased cane susceptibility to grazing damage. Disturbance of litter by grazing favored establishment and growth of pond pine seedlings; fire may be essential to regenerate pond pine stands. Wildfire burns increased cattle gains during the year of the fire, but depleted the forage stand and decreased gains in the subsequent year. Range deterioration was pronounced under heavy stocking. [From authors' abstract]

Back to Author Index
Back to Subject Index