[Terrapreta] A clarification

[Janice Stettler]

Dear Ron,

First of all it's an assumption to believe the brush fire was lightening caused, we have very few lightening strikes on Whidbey Island (though oddly I've been lightening struck).  It's been the home to native people for aeons, followed by Dutch settlers The seventy year hiatus that you speak of, left the bulk of the forest untouched because of the corkiness of fir bark.  What changed to permit the activation of the charcoal was the removal of the tree canopy that shaded and cooled the area.  It can be quite daunting to burn branches released during winter storms only to discover that a fire is smoldering underground, but the living trees in a forest do not describe the sub-surface history.


Tony Stettler
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