WEBVTT - How Can Forest Fires Be Beneficial?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brainstufflaurin boglabam

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<v Speaker 1>here of forest fires started by humans or nature, whipped

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<v Speaker 1>by wind and fueled by dry brush a curb one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred thousand times a year in the US, consuming an

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<v Speaker 1>average of five point eight million acres or two point

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<v Speaker 1>three million hectors of land. These fires destroy everything that

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<v Speaker 1>can't escape their path. But although, of course the loss

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<v Speaker 1>of life and property from out of control fires is terrible,

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<v Speaker 1>controlled burns are actually two hour and our ecosystem's advantage.

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<v Speaker 1>Since two thousand and one, the US Forest Service has

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<v Speaker 1>had a national Fire Plan to address the tinderbox conditions

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<v Speaker 1>caused by decades of fire suppression, drought, and scores of

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<v Speaker 1>residential developments neighboring forests. It is a multi pronged approach

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<v Speaker 1>that includes fighting fires by land and air, as well

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<v Speaker 1>as controlled burns. These deliberately set and controlled fires are

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<v Speaker 1>designed to take place under specific conditions and confine the

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<v Speaker 1>flames to a predetermined area. The idea behind controlled burns

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<v Speaker 1>is to reduce the fuel that could feed a wild

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<v Speaker 1>forest fire should one start under uncontrolled circumstances. This dangerous

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<v Speaker 1>scenario has become all too common in the American West,

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<v Speaker 1>where peat and drought have turned entire sections of forest

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<v Speaker 1>into kindling, ready to be sparked by blightening or lit

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<v Speaker 1>cigarettes and fanned by strong winds. Of the seven hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and fifty million acres or three hundred million hectors of

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<v Speaker 1>forest in North America, fifty seven percent is privately owned

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<v Speaker 1>and becoming increasingly developed for residential use. This means wild

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<v Speaker 1>fires are increasingly likely to harm people in property, hence

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<v Speaker 1>the need to prevent them. So today let's talk about

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<v Speaker 1>how controlled burns work and how they can actually help

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<v Speaker 1>a forest. In general. The boundaries of a controlled burn

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<v Speaker 1>include natural fire guards such as streams, and human made

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<v Speaker 1>fire guards such as tilled soil or gravel roadways. Before

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<v Speaker 1>burn takes place, weather must be taken into account. A

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<v Speaker 1>too windy and sparks could spread to unintended areas. Too

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<v Speaker 1>wet and fuel won't burn a Most controlled burns take

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<v Speaker 1>place when the wind is five to fifteen miles per

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<v Speaker 1>hour that's eight to twenty four kilometers per hour and

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<v Speaker 1>coming from a consistent direction. In addition to notifying neighbors

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<v Speaker 1>in local enforcement agencies of the burn, in many cases,

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<v Speaker 1>those agencies require a permit. A local fire department should

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<v Speaker 1>be on the scene in case the fire burns out

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<v Speaker 1>of control. Controlled burns begin by lighting a backfire using

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<v Speaker 1>a flammable liquid such as gasoline, along the down wind

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<v Speaker 1>perimeter of the prescribed area. The fire will then burn slowly,

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<v Speaker 1>usually with low flames because it's moving against the wind.

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<v Speaker 1>Additional flanking fires may be lit a long boundary parallel

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<v Speaker 1>to the wind. Finally, a fire is set along the

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<v Speaker 1>boundary opposite the downwind perimeter. The fires burn toward each other,

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<v Speaker 1>consuming all the fuel in their path, and dying out

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<v Speaker 1>upon meeting. By carefully controlling the burn, we can reap

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<v Speaker 1>the benefits of forest fires while mitigating the risk. Forest

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<v Speaker 1>fires are a natural and necessary part of ecosystems. Even

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<v Speaker 1>healthy forests contain dead trees and decaying plant matter. When

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<v Speaker 1>a fire turns them to ashes, nutrients return to the

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<v Speaker 1>soil instead of remaining captive in that old vegetation. And

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<v Speaker 1>when fire rages through dry underbrush, it clears thick growth

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<v Speaker 1>so sunlight can reach the forest floor and encourage new

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<v Speaker 1>native plants to spring up. Fire freese these plants from

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<v Speaker 1>the competition delivered by invasive weeds and eliminates diseases or

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<v Speaker 1>droves of insects that may have been causing damage to

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<v Speaker 1>old growth. Wildflowers begin to bloom abundantly. Most young, healthy

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<v Speaker 1>trees are resilient enough to survive a forest fire and

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<v Speaker 1>will soon have a growth spurt thanks to flames that

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<v Speaker 1>thin light banning canopies above, and scientists report that young

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<v Speaker 1>growth forests recovering from a fire are home to more

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<v Speaker 1>diverse species in both plants and animals. Although some animals

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<v Speaker 1>are injured or die from forest fires, most survive. The

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<v Speaker 1>majority of animals can smell a fire even when it's

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<v Speaker 1>quite small from miles away. Some animals, such as deer

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<v Speaker 1>and bear will flee the area, while others like insects

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<v Speaker 1>and small mammals will burrow into the ground until the

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<v Speaker 1>flames pass. And even though some animals may be displaced

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<v Speaker 1>during a forest fire, the scorched earth will eventually provide

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<v Speaker 1>an ideal new home for others, one that's full of

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<v Speaker 1>thicker vegetation fed by that nutrient rich soil. Forest fires

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<v Speaker 1>can create and all you can eat buffet and more

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<v Speaker 1>than forty different kinds of insects, for example, will eat

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<v Speaker 1>their way through fire ravaged territory as they burrow into

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<v Speaker 1>the wood that remain. There's even a species of beetles

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<v Speaker 1>that waits for forest fires, using heat sensors to come

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<v Speaker 1>in from miles away to eat injured trees. These fattened

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<v Speaker 1>insects then become food themselves as birds hunt for a

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<v Speaker 1>feast all their own. The shrubs and grasses fertilized by

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<v Speaker 1>fire created nutrients will grow lushly as soon deer and

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<v Speaker 1>other grazing wildlife like mice will make a meal of them.

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<v Speaker 1>Then predators, coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, wolves, and bears will

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<v Speaker 1>get there full of prey too. Years later, when the

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<v Speaker 1>forest's growth has created a dark and damp interior framed

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<v Speaker 1>by a leafy overhead canopy, the forest's remaining residents will

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<v Speaker 1>move back in deep forest plants like mosses and lichens,

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<v Speaker 1>and animals like spotted owls and woodland caribou will once

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<v Speaker 1>again call it home. There are other options to get

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<v Speaker 1>similar results, like hand and mechanical thinning, which is the

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<v Speaker 1>logging of small diameter trees to reduce tree density and underbrush.

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<v Speaker 1>Thinning is more expensive and doesn't always return nutrients to

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<v Speaker 1>the environment. Take, for example, an experiment at Tall Timbers

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<v Speaker 1>Research Station in Tallahassee, Florida that lasted nearly four decades

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<v Speaker 1>and provided telling results. The twenty three acre swath of

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<v Speaker 1>land that's about nine hectores wasn't allowed to burn during

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<v Speaker 1>that time, plant diversity fell by ninety percent, and one

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<v Speaker 1>species of bird, a type of woodpecker, disappeared entirely. In

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<v Speaker 1>order to thrive, this ecosystem, like many others, needed fire.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article how does forest

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<v Speaker 1>fire benefit Living Things? On housetiff works dot com, written

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<v Speaker 1>by Lareel Dove. Brainstuff is production of Ihart Radio in

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<v Speaker 1>partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the

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