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>> https://www.allaboutbirds.org/old-flames-the-tangled-history-of-forest-fires-wi 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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