Study Finds Plentiful Natural Reforestation After Fires in Oregon and California

[Omaha Steve]

http://omaha.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D8O9FRTG0&_action=validatearticle

Study Finds Plentiful Natural Reforestation After Fires in Oregon and California
04-03-2007 8:21 PM
By JEFF BARNARD, AP Environmental Writer

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (Associated Press) -- Scientists looking at the aftermath of wildfires in the forests of southwestern Oregon and Northern California found that after five to ten years even the most severely burned areas had sprouted plentiful seedlings without any help from man.

Though natural regeneration generally took longer to produce pines and firs, it created a more varied forest, even after brush had become established, which is likely to benefit wildlife, concluded to the study by scientists from Oregon State University appearing in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of Forestry.

"When time is not a factor in achieving the goals, then natural regeneration appears to be a very good approach to reforestation," said David Hibbs, a professor of ecology and silviculture at Oregon State University who took part in the study.

The study is the latest to address the contentious issue of whether to harvest trees killed by wildfires on national forests and replant, or let them regenerate on their own.

Fire serves as both an agent of destruction and renewal in the Klamath and Siskiyou mountains where the study took place, wrote lead author Jeff Shatford, a research assistant in Oregon State's Department of Forest Science.

The study looked at 35 plots in eight areas that had burned between 1987 and 1996. Most were located in the Klamath River drainage of Northern California. Some were in the Umpqua River drainage of Southern Oregon. All had burned severely, Hibbs said.

FULL story at link.

[XemaSab]

1. K&R!

Another argument AGAINST post-fire "management."