I envision a future where we support prescribed fires as a preventative measure to manage forest fire intensity. Additionally, I hope that we engage in conscientious replanting which is to mean that we need to be thinking about the interactions between different types of plants and trees, heat or shade resistant and heat or shade sensitive etc. such that it that supports a healthy ecosystem.
A lot of the negative, impactful, change we are seeing now, is a result of human intervention where it was not needed and as mentioned in class and in the pre-readings, fire suppression creates a positive (but not good) feedback loop such that fires are more likely to happen and they will be more intense. That being said, I think a lot of the work we have left to do then may have to be restorative in order to be preventative rather than strictly management.
We need to restore diversity (polycultures) that are self-sustaining such as playing to the natural landscape (what was planted there before? what does that soil need now? what does the climate of that area support now? what animals live there and what trees and plants do they need to be self-sufficient).
We also need to encourage prescribed, controlled fires that clear surface fuel and prevent ladder fuel such that the crowns and seeds of a tree are preserved for reproduction (see attached image).
Lastly, dense forests are not only more dangerous in terms of fire potential but they are also worse for growth in general as plants need to be spaced out in order to grow themselves as well as leave spaces in the canopy for plants/seeds in the understory to grow. More spaced out forests are important for the future.
An example to make this more real comes from my BIOL306: advanced ecology course (images from Dr. Sean Michaletz's slides); cougars in a conservatory in Florida were dying as a result of dense plants that hid prey and made them harder to capture, leading to cougars starving. Regular, controlled fires benefited their population as they destroyed the plants and allowed the natural predatory-prey cycles to resume and the plants bounced back surprisingly quickly.
Let this story act as reminder that fires are not just a human or plant issue, but an entire ecologically necessary process that includes and impacts all living things. It's presence and absence are both tools and destructors but when we see them as tools that we can control, we can make real beneficial change.
Very well written post that is very informative Amy! The knowledge that you've brought from other classes is critical to both planning and determining the limitations that our society should have on controlling wildfires. We must both understand that nature is resilient but also that communities can be put in danger if actions are not used.
Hi Amy thanks for sharing the slides from your biol 306 class! I like how these slides can informatively show the benefits of controlled fires. I think we could also use such pictures or slides as a tool to show people that controlled fires actually do more good than harm to the environment.
Thank you for your sharing biol306 related content, I always thought that only negative influence for forest fire no positive impact, now also is not the case, really is a very important part of natural ecology in the fire, it is not all bad, but all things are not too extreme, no fire and uncontrollable fires are very bad, I think the agencies might be able to provide some equipment and resources to protect the forest to solve the problem, like fire belts to prevent the flames from spreading too fast.
Hi Amy, I also took the course BIOL306, and the impact of wildfires on the ecology is prominent; the entire forest will be affected, and not only the plants but also the animals will lose their habitat, and thus the population will be reduced. It is both a tool and a destroyer, but we need to amplify its advantages when we see it as a tool.
Hi Amy, thanks for the slides from your 306 class! I think this is great to show how beneficial regular controlled bans are and can help show people that the bans do not completely erase vegetation but it can recover over time.
Hi Amy! Thank you sharing these slides from your class. They were informative and interesting to look at :) Great vision and I agree with your notion of conscientious replanting - we should definitely consider the interactions between different species (including wildlife) when human intervention is required.
Hi Amy! I really liked this post because it was so factual, I really appreciate informative posts like this because I can freely form opinions myself. Let's all fight for positive change and live in harmony with nature!
hi Amy! Bio306! So familiar! In that class, we learned fire plays a key role through history of life; it maintains ecosystem stability. However, super fire nowadays almost burns all available fuels that even made nature unable to regenerate. As you said we must take action to change the status quo.
We definitely need to step back from our constant battle of fire suppression and accept that wildfires are an integral part of healthy ecosystems. We can however improve forest conditions like you mentioned by replanting trees in a smarter way and prescribing controlled burns.
Great post, and thanks for sharing these slides! It’s really interesting to see just how quickly undergrowth can recover from a burn.
Wow, such a great and insightful post! I really liked how you connected how dense forests can impact cougars and how controlled fires can help with maintaining balance of predator and prey.