How important is rehabilitating forest fires?

Question

like i know goverment and enviormental people resead and stuff like that, but whats the point??????

Answer 1

actually the government and environmentalist do very little in the case of rehabilitating forest fire or burn areas.In many cases these areas are left to naturally reseed themselves and green up,may plant and tree species need the intense heat of a fire to generate seed germination also after a fire the soil is enriched with all the ash.If you ever get the chance personally check out a burned area a few weeks after a fire you will be amazed at the greenery.

Answer 2

It makes no sense, naturally these areas would do this and because humans have encroached on these lands and it makes this natural process impossible.

You see when a fire happens it releases trapped nutrients in the plants, when you have a dead plant that is just sitting there doing nothing then it only took from the system but if that plant gets burned it can then release its goodness back to the Earth so the other plants can use it.

Some trees have been shown to essentially unaffected by fire, their limbs are burned and the leaves are singed off but the tree remains alive and because the tree now has been given a dose of potassium it now can become stronger. Ash is a great source of potassium.

The reason why agencies re seed is because if they didn't they couldn't say they that they had done anything plus who would stop at the change to erraticate a less socially exceptible plant for one that is prettier!

Essentially I am unsure what the point to reseeding is, because there are a lot of plants that need to go through a fire before their seeds will  germinate.

I guess we humans just like playing God and cannot stop, one day perhaps we will realize that we should leave nature alone, because it has done very well without us and it will continue to do so once we leave it alone.

Until that time, the pendulum of destruction will continue.

Answer 3

If we burn thousands of hectares to rehabilitate, that would make absolutely no sense.

What has to happen is to burn narrow paths that can be used as fire control strips. We then have fresh new growth that does not burn readily, and that supports animal life.

After an area has been harvested of its lumber, as in clean cutting an area, it can make sense to burn the forest residues to prevent them from becoming fuel for wild fires. We could do this better by harvesting all that residual material as fibres for paper or clothing. But we don't, so it is almost a moot point.

Answer 4

All forest fires should be forced to go to rehab where they can learn how not to be so self destructive.  Then they can have a big group hug with all of the Hollywood celebrities at the rehab center and everyone will feel good for a little while.

Answer 5

Although I agree with the statement above, I'm not sure that was an answer to your question.

There are several reasons for replanting after forest fires... whether or not these reasons are sufficient is in the eye of the beholder.

Fire ecology is complex. The influences of humans have made it even more complex. Some tree species are very dependent on the presence of fire. Some species require the forest to restart from scratch (lodge pole pine for example) in order to regenerate itself, others depend on the the fire to engulf smaller, weaker trees- which provide more resources for the dominate trees (ponderosa pine). Replanting in some situations may create a man made sense normalcy (although it may be a correction of a man made mistake). In other situations this may make for an even more un-natural environment.

Fires often cause problems of soil stability, and water quality. Depending on who you talk to, the environment can take care of this in time. Since many people depend on these resources however, that is a difficult argument to make.

Another questions is one of economics. Replanting often speeds up the rehabilitation proses, and will provide wood and wood fiber products, faster.

Planting can also influence disease resistance, product quality, wildlife populations, and many other things: depending on how the planting is executed, for better or worse.

The real question is: do we want to manage and co-exist with the forest, or isolate ourselves and our actions from it? If we choose the first option it must be done correctly, and with care. If we choose the second option... we simply will need to find a way to survive without the bounties of a forest.