Another perspective on what the trees burned in a fire do for the forest rather than logging many of them out for building.
An excerpt.
Commentary: Post-fire trees hold value as multitaskers in forests
By Monica L. Bond and Derek E. Lee - Special to The Bee
Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, September 22, 2006
Walk through any forest after a fire and you hear a cacophony of bird song. Chipmunks and ground squirrels scurry into the regenerating shrubs. Colorful wildflowers nod in the breeze.
Many plants and animals thrive in and even need burned forests for their survival. Black-backed woodpeckers are rarely found anywhere but in the most severely burned patches, and many plants and trees require the heat of fire to open their seeds for germination.
This is hardly surprising, since forests and the animals and plants that live there have existed with fire for millenniums.
That's why a bill in Congress to boost logging in burned forests is a bad idea. The logging bill, HR 4200, which passed the House and has been referred to the Senate Agriculture Committee, would implement a system of preapproved logging practices after natural events such as a fire, and would exempt these practices from the National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA is the law that requires federal agencies to carefully examine and disclose the potential impacts of a logging project to the public.
Without NEPA, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management would not have to determine how much the project would hurt wildlife or warn the public about potential harm to soils, vegetation and water quality. Logging removes trees that would otherwise replenish the forest floor and provide habitat. Driving heavy machinery also erodes soil. These activities impede natural regeneration, clog streams with sediment and introduce weeds. Logging also has been shown to increase severe fires by removing trees that would shade the ground and slow down winds, and littering the forest with small limbs and branches that easily spread fire.
Old beliefs that fire "destroys" forests and wildlife have been overturned. We now know it creates new kinds of habitats, recycles nutrients and rejuvenates forest growth. Scientists have recognized for years that dead, blackened trees are every bit as important for wildlife as live, green trees, and many animals and plants are more numerous in burned areas. Unfortunately, some members of Congress and the agencies charged with managing our public forests are still clinging to outdated, unsupported beliefs that natural disturbances such as fire and insects are harmful to forests.
