New research is revealing how plant seeds depend on smoke and even heat from fires to get them to sprout. It's a smart strategy for the seed, of course: smoke comes from fires, and fires mean that the soil is probably fertile with new ash. Plus, if weeds and grass have been burned to the ground, a new seed will have little competition.
This is yet more evidence supporting the view I've long held on forest fires: let them burn, folks. Extinguishing forest fires is a bad strategy for preventing them. If you keep putting out the fires, they'll just get bigger when they do burn through. And while trees can easily survive a typical fire, if the underbrush has built up for too long (thanks to humans putting out all the fires), when it lights up, it will kill all the trees and devastate the forest.
The nation learned this in 1988 when a raging fire burned up a third of Yellowstone National Park. If they had let previous fires burn through the forest, the 1988 fire would have been no big deal.
It is the epitome of arrogance when humans think they have the right to go into forests and extinguish fires. They think they know better than nature? Nature has been starting fires (thanks to lightning) for as long as there have been trees. And now, all of a sudden, man comes along and thinks he should be putting out all those fires?
Let me tell you something: nature knows what works best, and forests are supposed to burn every few years. It's absolutely essential for the health of the forest, and as we see from this research, it's also the only way many trees can reproduce.
In fact, and this may sound radical, but it isn't, a person who starts a forest fire where other people have been artificially extinguishing them is actually helping the forest. Of course, the best policy is to just let lightning do the job for you, then stand back and let it burn. Just because there's a fire doesn't mean it's bad.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams created NaturalNews.TV, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Email this article to a friend
Share this article on: 
Now Available from 
