[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by photoLith

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Its easy to understand. Many of the pine trees in the west actually require fire to unleash their seeds from the pine cones. Some species pine cones only open up when heat from a fire occurs. When the vegetation burns also this releases tons of nutrients into the ground. Forest fires were a huge natural process that was very very important before Europeans came to America and tried to control them. Most forests, especially on the east coast are incredibly dense compared to what they would have looked like 400 years ago. Fires have been controlled and the forests have grown very dense with undergrowth. In the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas for example, trees in forests that havent been burned are mere feet apart and block sunlight from reaching the forest floor. They are now doing controlled burns and clearing out forests of excess trees in many national forests. When you do this, you allow sunlight to reach the forest floor and flowering plants flourish as do insects, which then provide food for birds, and so on. Forest fires and grassland firs are incredibly important to the health of said habitat.

Thanks for a good explanation. Not a lot of people realize how nature works.