Forest health, wildfire and water are inseparably linked. Forests filter water as it comes down the mountain from snowmelt and storms in the alpine. The forest's trees, soils and shade hold water, protecting it from evaporation, and slowly releasing it to the animals, plants, lands and people that rely on it. Dying, overstocked, or intensely burned forests are damaged, translating to impairments that ripple throughout the watershed. Removing excess trees - especially those that are dead, diseased, or stressed - increases the health of remaining trees by allowing limited water and nutrients to go further. Healthy trees are more resistant to disease and more resilient during fire, reducing the likelihood of a blaze that would level large swaths of forest. Opening the canopy allows in sunlight and moisture, encouraging understory forage and cover to flourish, creating space for large mammals to move and browse and small mammals and birds to find the cover and food they require.
The forest canopy shelters mammals, insects, birds, amphibians, and reptiles, and nourishes the grasses, herbs, shrubs, mosses, lichens, bacteria, and fungi that feed and interact with them. Predation, competition, photosynthesis, generation of new life and dissolution of the old occur synchronously in the forest ecosystem. These processes continue quietly and to most of us, undetected. But in a place of such rugged naturalness, sometimes change blazes with high intensity across the landscape.
Wildfire - in its natural state - cleanses the forest of dead material, opens cones, releases seed, removes insects and disease, releases nutrients and through the mosaic effect of most periodic burns, infuses the forest with a greater diversity of habitat. Woody debris on the forest floor is consumed as flames scorch the ground, preventing fuels from accumulating to produce hotter, more damaging blazes. As fire releases nutrients in the form of ash, soils become more habitable to plants that revegetate the forest floor. When fire is delayed or suppressed, fuels accumulate, allowing fire to burn too intensely. The canopy burns, trees are killed rather than singed, soils are damaged and destabilized, giving way to erosion which not only wreaks havoc downstream but delays regeneration as the foundation of regrowth washes away with each storm.
Forestry work that mimics the forest's natural state of health by removing excess, unhealthy trees encourages stands that are resilient to wildfire, provide ample habitat for wildlife, and provide clean air, water, and beauty for people.
The forest canopy shelters mammals, insects, birds, amphibians, and reptiles, and nourishes the grasses, herbs, shrubs, mosses, lichens, bacteria, and fungi that feed and interact with them. Predation, competition, photosynthesis, generation of new life and dissolution of the old occur synchronously in the forest ecosystem. These processes continue quietly and to most of us, undetected. But in a place of such rugged naturalness, sometimes change blazes with high intensity across the landscape.
Wildfire - in its natural state - cleanses the forest of dead material, opens cones, releases seed, removes insects and disease, releases nutrients and through the mosaic effect of most periodic burns, infuses the forest with a greater diversity of habitat. Woody debris on the forest floor is consumed as flames scorch the ground, preventing fuels from accumulating to produce hotter, more damaging blazes. As fire releases nutrients in the form of ash, soils become more habitable to plants that revegetate the forest floor. When fire is delayed or suppressed, fuels accumulate, allowing fire to burn too intensely. The canopy burns, trees are killed rather than singed, soils are damaged and destabilized, giving way to erosion which not only wreaks havoc downstream but delays regeneration as the foundation of regrowth washes away with each storm.
Forestry work that mimics the forest's natural state of health by removing excess, unhealthy trees encourages stands that are resilient to wildfire, provide ample habitat for wildlife, and provide clean air, water, and beauty for people.