It has now been nine months since the devastating CZU Complex fire and despite a very dry rainy season, there is encouraging recovery in some areas. On a recent bike ride along the length of the affected area along Gazos Creek Road, we saw lush new growth popping up in the burn area. There was very little difference in the species composition of flowers along the road compared to a similar ride one year earlier. Shrubs such as Coyote Brush were coming back strong. The canyon was filled with bird song. One big difference, and this also seems to be the case in areas not affected by fire, is that there were almost no butterflies, whereas last year, there was an abundance of butterflies in the canyon.

Here is a link to a series of photos taken along the length of the road. It shows not only stump sprouting from the redwoods, but also sprouting from the upper trunks. Bigleaf Maple was sprouting all over from the ground and from stumps, but Red Alder was not rebounding as fast. Time will tell what happens to the Douglas Fir trees, but they do not usually fare as well after fire.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dpom12/albums/72157719409709081

Posted on June 13, 2021 11:17 PM by dpom