My neighbor in Flagstaff taught me about the old fire patterns

I was helping an older guy, Frank, clear some brush from his property line last spring. He pointed to a stand of ponderosa pines and said, 'See the spacing? That's from the low burns we had before they started putting every fire out. Now the fuel load is triple what it was in '85.' It stuck with me because he wasn't just talking theory, he was showing me the actual trees. Has anyone else had a local show them a clear sign of how the land has changed?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim69320d ago

Used to believe all wildfires were just bad news... until a park ranger in Montana walked me through a burn scar. She showed how the new aspen shoots were coming up thick where the fire had cleared out the deadwood, and the soil was already recovering. Completely flipped my view on controlled burns. That hands-on stuff makes it click way more than any article.

the_joel20d ago

Honestly, I read a piece about how some forests actually need fire to stay healthy, and it sounds a lot like what @kim693 saw. It said fires clear out the old stuff so new plants can get sunlight. Tbh, seeing it for yourself really makes the idea stick.

taylor1415d ago

Yeah, @the_joel is right, seeing that new growth firsthand changes everything.