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Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------EBE7B1ECAAB2610172B8BDF4 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hi Donna & All, Excepting special situations, such as sandy scrubland with volunteer Lowbush Blueberry which often caught fire after the berries were gone and resulted in future good berry yields the effects of fire in NS are generally negative I think. I don't know how widespread this was but from the mid 30's to beyond the 60s there was a local Fire Warden (?) in the Cambridge area who organized fire fighting in woodland and kept a supply of backpack tanks, shovels etc. on hand in event of need; for fighting fires or burning headlands. In the dirty thirties fire suppression helped the unemployed eat. Those who timed it well would get a good fire going before the alarm sounded, get hired on the spot and go home with some ready cash. The main impact that European settlement had on woodland was clearing of the better soils for agricultural purposes and leaving soils with site or physical problems for woodland. Consequently a huge increase in forest productivity would be possible if these limitations were corrected. This is illustrated indirectly by the Irving approach to purchase abandoned farmland, improve it (In about 1980 they hired a full time Soil Scientist to examine profiles and prescribe corrective measures) and practice whole tree harvest. This makes economic sense if the first 200 cm is not mostly rock because about half of the wood in a tree is below ground. There are numerous folk tales about land so poor that Rabbits had to pack a lunch when crossing it or just sat down and cried when they saw it. These refer to woodland which was cleared for farming but found wanting. Such sites would be suitable for forestry after profile improvement. But I digress. Many of our forest soils are just a dusting of mineral soil and a few inches of organic matter over shallow fragmented bedrock or shallow water table. Fire there would have long-lasting negative effects. Offhand I can not think of any forests in NS which would benefit from fire. Yt, DW, Kentville On 8/8/2019 7:24 PM, Donna Crossland wrote: > > Regarding the article below, I would caution that this story was > centered on western Montana and, while it is a good article about > western forests, the take-home messages cannot be directly applied to > Nova Scotia forests (not that anyone one has said this in the email > commentary, but in case anyone is thinking it, I cannot resist raising > a red flag). Rocky Mountain ecosystems, for the most part, require a > short fire cycle, with forest ecosystem health relying on fire as a > key renewal agent. Eastern forest ecosystems are not reliant on fire > as an agent of forest renewal. Natural fires in the Acadian forest > occur at very long intervals, 100s to more than 1000 years between > catastrophic wildfire events. It seems that some of our forests may > have never burned at all, in fact. The natural cycle of fire varies > across Nova Scotia depending on the ecoregion, weather patterns, > geology, soil moisture, elevation, natural fire barriers, etc. More > commonly, Acadian forests are renewed through insects, wind events, > disease pathogens, and senescence/decay, causing gaps of varying sizes > and intervals. Large stand-replacement events were rare. Hence old > growth was common. The scientific literature backs this up. Even the > early shipping and mill records support that we featured large > dimension timber, much of it old growth and late successional. Those > were the days. > > Unfortunately, the frequent land clearance and logging slash fires > during European settlement changed much of our forest character, right > down to the soils in many cases. Presently we have new forest > disturbance agents called feller bunchers and processors becoming the > dominant over-riding signal on the forest landscape to the point that > mature to old forests are becoming hard to find and are very > fragmented. In Annapolis County, few natural patches of forest > remain. Some levels of government continue to focus on disturbance > regimes, but for the wrong reasons. Encouraging us to become > concerned about getting enough disturbance from fire and other agents > into our forest systems, rather than concentrating on a greatly-needed > long period of recovery and restoration. Most of our forests > presently require centuries of recovery just to nurse depleted soils > back to health from fires, acid rain, and clearcutting. One thing each > of us can do is encourage hardwood growth, with deep rooting > structures that help improve soil conditions. > > Nonetheless, there are some 'experts' within the Maritimes who will > continue to proclaim that our NS forests are fire dependent > ecosystems, failing to recognize the unique disturbance dynamic and > complexity of Acadian forest. It is easy to confuse the heightened > fire frequencies during the 1780s-/ca./1900 as being 'natural' when > they were ignited by our forefathers for one reason or another. It's > rare that a dry lightening strike actually ignites a wildfire of any > consequence in NS, though it can happen in rare instances, > particularly in droughts. In the Rockies it is common and western and > northern ecosystems are adapted to that. > > My 'fire 'n brimstone' sermon for this evening, haha. (I've > researched fire history in NB and to a lesser extent in NS, and am > aware of some of the misinterpretations used by forest industry to > justify clearcutting, stating that it emulates fire. There is a lot > that is plain wrong with this thinking. And so, I take opportunity to > write about fire as it relates to the Acadian forest whenever I can.) > > Donna Crossland > > Tupperville > > On 2019-08-08 8:24 a.m., Richard Stern wrote: >> Great article! >> >> Richard Stern >> sent from my Android device >> >> On Thu., Aug. 8, 2019, 7:58 a.m. Don MacNeill, >> <donmacneill@bellaliant.net <mailto:donmacneill@bellaliant.net>> wrote: >> >> An interesting take on the ecological value of forest fires >> >> https://www.allaboutbirds.org/old-flames-the-tangled-history-of-forest-fires-wi