
The Great Sea of Gambel Oak, Mt. Elden, June 2011
Saturday I hiked up Mt. Elden to see if the smoke plume from the Wallow Fire burning some 160 miles away in eastern arizona was visible from the summit. I wasn't really expecting to directly sight the pyrocumulus cloud itself as even at 30,000+ feet tall the top should've been beyond the horizon at this distance. However, I suspect that the white haze on the far horizon in the above panorama was the smoke drifting north and backwashing to the west over the far painted desert region.
On the way down the Heart Trail I was struck by how green and healthy the post-Radio Fire Gambel Oak community on that part of the mountain is. Gambel Oak is one of my favorite tree species so it's always nice to be among them. Higher up the slope after you leave the aspen it is very exposed so dropping into the lush oak forest below is a welcome respite from the glaring sun of the Heart Trail.
Gambel oak, sometimes called scrub oak, is pretty common in these parts and seems to have done particularly well after the fire. It makes sense that they would: they are a drought tolerant pioneer species and love to grow in sunny places with thin, rocky soils. And like aspen they have evolved defensive mechanisms to protect themselves from wildfires, so they love these burned areas. I have a sneaking suspicion that they fill much the same ecological niche as the aspen do but at lower, drier elevations. In fact, I have seen gambel oak supplanting fading aspen clones south of Flagstaff and Mormon Lake, the oaks happily moving into the places where the aspen have died.

In the Sea of Gambel Oak, Mt. Elden, June 2011
If you hike from the Sandy Seep trailhead you begin to enter the "sea of oak" (as I like to call it) just after you get onto the Heart Trail proper. The environment really changes when you get back in there, becoming more enclosed, brushier, and wilder. When the trees get their leaves in mid to late May the area becomes a maze of oak clusters, grassy drainages, and twisting corridors. It is perfect habitat for many types of birds like Black-headed Grossbeaks, woodpeckers, and Steller's Jays. You can also see big old jackrabbits, mule deer, foxes, and coyote. One time I was amazed to see a mule deer fawn being chased by a coyote who was in turn being chased by the fawn's mother! The trio bounded right past me on the trail, one after the other, none of them even noticing that I was standing there.
With this region expected to become hotter and drier due to climate change Gambel Oak will probably become even more prevalent here. The oak will move higher up the mountains and expand into new habitat, taking over from previous tenants like Ponderosa, Douglas fir, and aspen, which will in turn push higher yet. Unfortunately the preferred mechanism for this migration will probably not be pretty or pleasant to us: fire and beetle infestations that clear the stage for the newcomers.