They are still clueless!

Let it burn. Let some grass grow. Let the snowshoe hares return. Let the Lynx return. Hmm. Maybe it wasn't the trappers fault after all......idiots.

And people will rebuild there and fire will reclaim the land again. Fire and floods are as natural as rain and sunshine.
Rebuilding a house on railroad tracks because the train will only come through once every decade or two is a stupid move, So is rebuilding in areas where fires and flood will eventually return.

I'm with Andy. If they would do a better job of controlled burns the land would be more productive and less likely to burn out of control.

If it burns too hot it kills the nutrients in the soil. I see a lot of places in the Black Hills that don't just bounce back right away it takes many years to get back to any productive growth.

You are right Jerry. A little bit of logging would go a long ways but for a lot of our Beatle kill areas its probably too late. The dead fall is stacked up like cord wood. You hunt on a piece of private ground that has been selectively logged and the grass is lush under the canopy. Hunt our public forest and its like the dead sea. Nothing grows. Mother nature is going to fix it one way or another.

For that matter even area's of clear cutting isn't all bad either to get the grass and bushes kick started again. Places like the Missouri Breaks, the Bull Mtns after a fire goes through the timber may never return without seedlings planted.
Then heaven help us all if it starts a coal seam burning because no one knows where it may end up then or how many root sections will start burning because of it.

Cool thread.

That is interesting. Here generally within a couple of months max. of a controlled burn there are green shoots popping up everywhere. Maybe because the climate here is so much more moist?

Also, here the National Forest is select cut and burned fairly often. That may make a huge difference as well.

When burned more frequently the fire temps are much lower as there is less fuel and smaller fuel elements. If the fire temps get too hot they will burn the organic matter the basis for Nitrogen in the soil right out of the soil which will stifle new shallow rooted growth. If the mature trees are large and survive and are deeper rooted they will continue to grow and thrive such as burr oak in our northern cool season grassland.

Bryce