Forest Fires And Its Effects On The Environment

There are many reasons that a controlled fire is very necessary to our environment. It is not only beneficial to nature but also to people as well. For example, many farmers will have controlled fires to improve the land for their livestock. When the land is burned off, new growth will begin to take its place which in turn becomes better "food" for the animals. The new growth is richer and has more nutrients than the old, dried

The increase in high severity fires is largely due to historical and current fire suppression policies. Federal forest-fire management in the United States began in 1886 following the creation of the national parks, and the passage of the federal Clarke-McNary Act in 1924 began a national fire suppression regime (Stephens and Ruth 2005). Suppression of low severity fires allows surface and ladder fuels to accumulate, contributing to high severity crown fires. Today, 98-99% of all wildland fires are suppressed at less than 0.5 acres in size. Of the 4.5 million acres of land once burned on California, only 6% of this area is burned today. Fire suppression investment is still increasing with 3 billion more dollars invested in fire suppression since 2013. This investment has not prevented increases in the size or frequency of high intensity fires (Stephens 2014). There is currently no comprehensive policy that works to manage fire

Prescribed burning is effective in most cases. Not only does it cut down fire fuels but its mitigation before fires even start. (Levering,

It will also produce for Nitrogen into the soil, to help more plants and vegetation grow in the future. With the Nitrogen and other additional nutrients in the soil it is helping farmers with their crops getting the nutrients it needs. Fires can also clear forests of insect infestations and potential diseases Warren (2011). Among the other benefits of prescribed burning are: Insect pest control, Removal of exotic, or non-species that compete with native species for nutrients and other needs, Fires occurring in nature can restore ecological balance and facilitate regeneration Warren

Many people, due to simple logic, may believe that increasing deforestation will cut down on wildfires in dry conditions. If you consider it for a little while it seems to make sense. Less trees means less fuel for a fire to burn through. As said before, it’s simple logic. Except for the fact it isn’t. In fact according to Chad Hanson, commercial logging doesn’t stop wildfires, it causes them! In his article The Big Lie: Logging and Forest Fires, he wrote “Relentless clearing of forests in the Great Lakes region left huge areas largely devoid of the cooling shade of trees, replacing moist natural forest microclimates with the hotter, drier conditions characterized by stump fields.” (Hanson) He then explained that because of these dry and hot

“Wildfires Devastate California,” a nonfiction article from Scholastic News by Sean Price, describes the dozens of wildfires in California that are affecting lots of Californians by forcing them to evacuate. The main cause of all this is the four-year drought making a lot of the forests and fields very dry and easier to burn. The current wildfires started when lightning struck the dry fields and forests. There are about 1,200 more fires now in 2015 than in the same period in 2014 -- that is a huge difference for just one year! Currently, California has 23 wildfires with 10,000 firefighters risking their lives to protect us and to put the fires out. The worst of all fires is the Rocky Fire which has destroyed 28 structures and caused 6,000

Projecting the effects of fire suppression and possible cumulative effects of fire suppression and other disturbances are vital management tasks moving forward into forestry planning strategies for the future. Although the long-term effects of fire suppression in the Pacific Northwest have been monitored since the early 1900’s, it is challenging to decipher relationships between the cumulative effects of a century of suppression alongside climate change, insect outbreaks and disease and plan how to combat them effectively.

Firstly, controlled burning puts nutrients back into the soil, which promotes the growth of trees and other plants necessary for animals to survive. However you cannot predict how large a fire will be and it may take out a large,if not all, amount of the plants, they will grow back healthier. Secondly, it minimizes the spread of diseases by getting rid of pests that pass the disease around to animals and humans. It improves the habitat for animals such as birds, it increases food production and availability, for other animals like deer, it increases the amount of browse

In BC, in 2050, the forest fires will have a big impact on the standards of living in Canada. The forest fires will affect both the health and wealth aspects of living standards. For example, forest fires are very expensive, sometimes even costing billions of dollars. This huge cost will affect the economy (or economic value) of Canada considerably. The forestry industry will also influence the living standards if the forest fires do not allow the recently planted trees to grow. Since one in seven jobs are connected to the forestry industry in BC, many people’s jobs will be involved. The standards of living in Canada will be damaged if action is not taken towards properly protecting forests from fires.

Fuel reduction is an important part of putting out wildfires. Firefighters try to steer wildfires into places that have less stuff to catch fire. Dry leaves and bushes make good fuel for fires. If we burn them away first, wildfires can not use them as fuel.

There are also so many animals that go along with the damage from the fires because they are living in the middle of it and do not have any where to go. It makes sense that actions such as controlled burns should be done because so much could be prevented. Then again there are so many people who argue against them because they are a disruption to the environment. “Fire experts argue that prescribed burns are vital for reducing the risk of catastrophic blazes and restoring ecosystems that evolved with fire” (Tobin 2). If a great deal of damage could be prevented, I do not see why there should be any concern. This is especially important when you look at what more damage is done to the environment during a huge forest fire compared to on from a petite controlled burn.

Wildfires can be a serious disaster in terms of both human and ecological aspects. When it comes to land ethic though, it certainly serves a purpose as well along with many other natural disasters. These disasters can be viewed as a mechanism that the Earth uses to replenish itself. That is, they can also shape our landscapes and nature as a whole. There has to be some control of the disasters through human intervention. In order for this to be, humans must also evaluate why wildfires exist and the purpose of them. Forests can benefit much from forest fires in moderation as long as there not excessive or widespread.

While not all the effects of prescribed burns are known some are very evident. The first of these common effects is that vegetation and fallen dead material are burned creating an open forest floor. This eliminates any fuel that could contribute to a high intensity fire in the future. When the fire burns the organic material in the forest, nutrient rich ash is left behind. When the first rain comes, the nutrients in the ash dissolve into the soil for the new plants to use. This process is called nutrient recycling. These nutrients left in the soil are a good source of food for the young plants that will begin to grow back. Another outcome of prescribed fire is that new growth begins immediately after the fires have been extinguished. Within

From what I have observed, not only are wildfires a life-threatening issue, but an economic and environmental hazard as well. As wildfires spread, they emit carbon dioxide gas, a greenhouse gas which contributes to the negative effects of climate change. To confront these wildfires, the fire department has to dispatch firefighters and supply them with efficient equipment to put out the fires. In doing so,

According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, Wildfire means “a sweeping and destructive conflagration esp. in a wilderness or a rural area.” Also according to the same dictionary, wilderness means “a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings.” Forest Fires happen when there is a drought because branches and twigs die and dry out creating plenty of fuel for a fire. According to the NIFC (National Interagency Fire Center) there are about 105,534 wildfires that occur each year.