2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
Every year, you see on t.v., news broadcasts of wildfires in California. Though they can be devastating to people and property, they are part of the natural ecosystem. The native plants here are wonderfully designed to rebound after a fire. Last fall, there was a fire in Malibu, which is not far from where I live. We have gone back there several times and I have taken pictures to show how the vegetation is recovering.
This first picture shows how the vegetation looked before the fire. This vegetation type is called chaparral. I'm sure you've heard of it in cowboy movies. The brush is very thick and impossible to walk through without a trail. Usually, the bushes are on the order of 5 to 8 feet tall. Chaparral is very flammable. The leaves contain oils to keep them from drying out in dry weather. There is also a lot of dead vegetation around because decay is slow in this dry climate.
The fire was in October and in January and February, we got a decent amount of rain and plants started to grow. This is the burn area in March.
The chaparral shrubs will grow back, some from the roots of the original plants and some from seed. There are even some chaparral plants whose seeds will not germinate unless there has been a fire. Until the shrubs take over, the area is clear for the growth of smaller plants like bulb plants and annuals. Burn areas are some of the best places to find mass displays of wildflowers.
Dichelostemma capitatum
star lily
Catalina mariposa lily
Plants that are most numerous after a fire are called fire-followers. Stinging lupine is a fire-follower.
This yucca survived because the heart of the plant is succulent. The clump on the left is sending up a flower stalk.
This oak tree looks much the worse for wear, but it survived.
The blue flowers are foothill lupine, another fire-follower.
The grass is called giant ryegrass. It really thrives after a fire.
sticky phacelia
Parry's phacelia
twining snapdragon
This picture was taken in mid April and you can see that there is extensive plant coverage. The rainy season ended early, so there was not much more happening after this. Provided we get a decent amount of rain this coming winter, we should get another good display of fire-followers next spring. I'll go back and see if there is anything new.
In about 10 years, the chaparral shrubs will have grown back and things will look pretty much like they did in the first photo in this series.
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