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Index of Subjects Hi Doug and All, Does Natural Resources, or whatever they are called this week, advocate fire as a forest management tool ? If not them then who ? YT, DW, Kentville On 8/9/2019 1:15 AM, Doug Linzey wrote: > Thank you, Donna Crossland, for this very clear and concise portrait > of the Acadian forest and its natural aversion to fire -- in contrast > to some unfortunately common theories to the contrary. Your post > deserves to be seen beyond this forum of naturalists. The least I can > do is copy it to my MLA. > > Cheers, > Doug Linzey > > 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 >> >>
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