Menlo Smokey

Menlo Smokey would love to travel across AND beyond the United States to share his message that wildfires can be prevented. He would also love it if geocachers learn about fire-dependent plants or trees in the places he visits and note them in their logs.

Menlo Smokey is pleased to share some information about Menlo Park, where he was "born."

The Knobcone Pine (Pinus attenuata) is a drought-tolerant tree native to the area. The Knobcone Pine belongs to an informal taxonomic category known as the "California closed-cone pines." In most species of pine, a set of cones matures annually, opening during hot weather and dropping their seeds in the fall. With closed-cone pines, however, many of the cones remain sealed with resin and attached to the branches.

Botanists call this closed-cone trait serotiny. Most scientists believe that serotinous cones evolved as an adaptation to dry climates with occasional forest fires. The heat from fires sweeping through the crowns of the trees causes the resin seal to melt. In as little as a day after the fire, the cones open, releasing a seed supply saved up from multiple years. Although the burned mature trees usually die, many new trees soon sprout from the seeds, recolonizing the area more quickly than other tree species.

The resin in Knobcone Pine cones requires extreme temperatures (almost 400° F/203° C) to liquefy, boil, and vaporize. The first seeds fall within 1 to 12 hours after the fire, when the ground has cooled. The small, light seeds are dispersed by wind. New trees begin seed production when they are 10-12 years old. Limited testing has shown that seed viability does not decline with age; seeds enclosed in cones for up to 60 years can produce new trees.

The Knobcone Pine's thin bark likely provides little protection from all but low-severity surface fire and saplings are killed by surface fire. Fire is not a threat to very young trees, however, since the preceding stand-replacing fire has removed most of the fuel load. The cones themselves are extremely fire resistant and are seldom consumed by fire. Fires also create conditions favorable for germination of new trees as they temporarily raise the soil pH and increase soil nutrient content. 

The safe way to allow Knobcone Pine forests to release their seeds is through prescribed fires, also known as prescribed burns or controlled burns. This is done by a team of fire experts under specified weather conditions that helps restore health to ecosystems that depend on fire. More information about safely managing prescribed fires is available at smokeybear.com/en/about-wildland-fire

Much of the above information is adapted from content on: https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinatt/all.html