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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Flourishing
Forests Need Fires
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
08/09/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
Fire is
a natural and vital part of most forests (moist tropical rain
forests
mostly excluded). "Many forests
have evolved to burn, and
fire
plays a key role in maintaining a healthy functioning ecosystem."
The
current blazes in the Western United States are not unusual or
unnatural,
but they have been exacerbated by land management policy
that
lacks an ecological foundation. The
fires and their impacts are
the
result of decades of fire suppression which has built up
unprecedented
fuel loads capable of causing huge blazes, inappropriate
citing
of residential homes and other structures, and overly intensive
commercial
management of forests over too large of areas; while
failing
to leave enough large, mature, intact forests to maintain
adequate
moisture levels and other natural ecological processes.
Letting
smaller fires burn on a more routine basis is one required
long-term
policy prescription.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Flourishing forests need fires
Source: BBC News Online, Copyright 2000
Date: August 8, 2000
By: environment correspondent Alex Kirby
The
fires raging through 11 western US states are laying waste to
human
settlements and ravaging wildlife.
But the
forests will ultimately benefit from the effects of the
flames,
which are a natural way of clearing old growth.
Some
experts even criticise the practice of trying to prevent fires at
any
cost, saying this means bigger problems when the flames take hold.
And
they say policymakers need to accept that they are responsible for
this
year's devastation, by stopping smaller fires breaking out in the
past.
Fires
are often blamed for reducing the fertility of the soil and
destroying
animals and plants, apart from the damage they do to human
interests.
But,
with one important exception, fire is a natural and vital part of
forest
life. Although people cause most fires worldwide, the most
common
natural cause is probably lightning.
The
exception is fires in tropical forests, with their high levels of
humidity
and moisture. They do not normally burn, and can be very
badly
damaged by fire.
In most
other parts of the world, though, the right fire - one that
can be
controlled - in the right place is a way of letting the forest
regenerate
itself.
Seeds
from fire
Burning
causes organic matter to decompose rapidly into mineral
components
which cause plants to grow fast, and it recycles essential
nutrients,
especially nitrogen.
Some
tree species cannot survive without periodic blazes. Lodgepole
and
jack pines are serotinous species - their cones open and their
seeds
germinate only after they have been exposed to fire.
In
Australia, the mountain ash, a flowering tree which grows in
temperate
areas, needs a site to be thoroughly burnt and to be exposed
to full
sunlight before it can regenerate.
Forests
adapt themselves to relatively small intermittent fires. But
when
policymakers try to suppress fires altogether, they encourage the
accumulation
of dead growth and allow new species to establish
themselves.
When a
fire does start, it finds more fuel to sustain itself than
would
normally be there.
Dr
Steve Howard, of WWF's Forests for Life campaign, told BBC News
Online:
"Many forests have evolved to burn, and fire plays a key role
in
maintaining a healthy functioning ecosystem.
"This
is true of the forests in the 11 US states that are burning now.
But
people have been interfering there for almost a century,
preventing
the fires which would have broken out naturally every two
to
seven years.
"The
result is plain - fires 10 times stronger than they would
otherwise
have been, with 10 times more impact on nature, and 10 times
harder
to control.
"What
we need to do is to get nature back in order by a programme of
controlled
burning, setting fire to small areas at the start or the
end of
the growing season.
"These
fires are man-made. We've inherited a hundred years of fire
suppression."
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
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