Effects of Prescribed Burning on Herbaceous and Woody Vegetation in Northern Lowland Meadows

Abstract Spring burning of sedge‐grass meadows in the Slave River Lowlands (SRL), Northwest Territories, Canada was applied between 1992 and 1998 to reduce shrub encroachment and enhance Bison bison (bison) habitat, although the impact of fire on preferred bison forage was unknown before management. In the summer of 1998 we conducted a study in the Hook Lake area of the SRL to test the effect of burn frequency (unburned, burned once, or burned three times since 1992) on herbaceous plant community composition and Salix spp. L. (willow) shrub vigor. Plant species abundance, litter biomass, soil pH, and depth of the organic soil horizon were measured in 300 1‐m² quadrats nested within 30 1,000‐m² plots in both burned and unburned dry meadows. To test the relationship between frequency and willow vigor, all willow shrubs within the plots were assigned a vigor score from I (dead) to IV (flourishing). The spring burns appear to have reduced willow vigor; however, shrub survival remained high (76%) on the most frequently burned meadows. Ordination plots resulting from canonical correspondence analysis suggest that multiple spring burns influenced plant community composition in dry meadow areas and that less palatable bison forage species (e.g., Carex aenea Fern. and Juncus balticus L.) were correlated with a regime of three spring burns. Our results suggest that frequent spring fires in the Hook Lake area have only a small negative effect on willow cover but may reduce the abundance of primary bison forage plants compared with less frequently burned meadows.