Fighting fire with fire - forest fire - includes related articles

American Forests, July-August, 1995 by Herbert E. McLean

Is the clean air we value so much really the natural condition in our forests? Or have we invented a more attractive substitute that is largely unnatural in our forest-lands?

And by the way, don't our massive contemporary wildfire events, which can exceed hundreds of thousands of acres, produce far more harmful air pollution than that of smaller prescribed fires? (For a detailed look at the forest fire/air pollution equation, see the accompanying story "PB: The Smoking Gun," by Neil Sampson).

We're just now beginning to grope for answers.

Public understanding is a major factor here. Across the land, fire-management officials tell me that when people understand the dynamics and the need for prescribed fire, they become more accepting. Example: Visitors to Yosemite Valley know that the "prescribed" smoke being produced there is a replication of a natural ecological process that reduces the chances of explosive wildfires. Few complain after reading about this in the visitor newspaper.

Toward a fiery future

Many of our forests are catastrophically overfuelled because of our high-profile fire-suppression ethic for the better part of a century. Repeated prescribed fire, set by both humans and lightning, is a highly promising way to defuel our forests and help restore ecosystem health - despite the high risks associated with it and even in view of the predictions by some experts that huge wildfires will on occasion continue to romp for hundreds of thousands of acres no matter what we do.

As John Maupin on the Plumas says, "We have an almost overwhelming task, but we just have to keep on plugging."

I personally see progress; I sense we might just get there.

At the same time, as one who lives amid a dry, fuel-heavy forest on Orcas Island, Washington, I continue to widen the "defensive space" around our home (see "Five Hot Tips for Homeowners," American Forests May/June 1993), hoping to survive the next "big one" we all hope will never arrive.

If you also live in the interface, I urge you to do likewise.

RELATED ARTICLE: Cold Fire: PB in Alaska

Wildfire is an important management tool. It is nature's recycler, a process that helps to keep forest ecosystems running smoothly, a biological pump that drives the cycle of life. Here in Alaska, the very ecological health of our cold forests depends on fire. Without it, there is little diversity in animal or plant life, and the forests become more fire-prone.

Prescribed fire offers an economically and environmentally acceptable means of rejuvenating Alaska's forests, where the annual rate of decomposition is only about two percent. This sluggish decaying process is due to long, frigid, dark winters and the fact that in much of the state, decay-resistant organic materials are underlain by permafrost. Under these conditions, the forest floor continues to thicken, tying up valuable plant nutrients.

Controlled burning can effectively reduce forest-floor buildup of mosses and dead vegetation, especially in spruce, the most widespread forest type in interior Alaska, and he type with the highest fire frequency. Periodic burning allows smaller fires that do less damage than large,intense conflagrations.