Do repeated wildfires promote restoration of oak woodlands in mixed-conifer landscapes?

•We examined California black oak response following a 12 year reburn.•Black oaks are resilient to repeated high-severity wildfire.•Oaks gained in relative canopy dominance over conifers at higher reburn severities.•Oak regeneration resulting from first fire was topkilled at low reburn severities.•Mature oak woodlands are unlikely to develop in frequent high-severity fire regimes.