Fireman at prescribed burn. Image courtesy of USDA Forest Service.

One source of the renewed faith in fire was the work by pioneering ecologists during the 1940s, at the University of Wisconsin. Ted Sperry and John Curtis found that controlled burns sprouted the seeds of prairie species and killed invading weeds, setting the stage for the routine use of "prescribed burns" in prairie restoration. Increasingly, fires are being set to eradicate weeds from Midwestern oak forests.

One of the many organizations using prescribed burns is The Nature Conservancy, which operates a fire management research program.

How can fire help forests? The answer depends on the nature of the ecosystem, the weather, and the amount of fuel available, but in general, fires can:

1. Reduce the build-up of fuel, and thus the intensity of future burns.
2. Recycle nutrients bound up in litter.
3. Reduce competition, allowing existing trees to grow larger.
4. Leave snags that provide nesting spots for woodpeckers and other birds.
5. Sprout seeds of native plants. For example, the cones of many lodgepole pines -- the characteristic tree of Yellowstone -- will only open after exposure to fire.
6. Kill non-native plants that are not adapted to fire.

Want to know how a tornado would affect a forest?

What should the government do?
As wild fires grow more common and more destructive, federal agencies recognize that the long history of controlling fire has, paradoxically, helped cause fires that are large and more intense. The new federal attitude, is to take a hands-off approach to fires that are not likely to harm structures, (see "U.S. to Use Fire..." in the bibliography). In June, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said, "we need to get fire back in the landscape." Prescribed burns, set deliberately to reduce the fuel load in federally owned land, were up 20 percent this year.

Unfortunately, the trend toward building homes in the wilderness has multiplied the number of fires that threaten houses, forcing the feds into the uncomfortable, and expensive, role of the West's chief fire fighter. Thus just at the time that scientists are coming to realize that fires can only be delayed -- never eradicated -- from many ecosystems, developers are putting homes in the path of fire.

Want to read about a conservation area where they despise wildfires?

There are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 documents. (Glossary | Bibliography)