[Terrapreta] wildfire

[David Yarrow]

ever hear of "coppicing"?  vegetative growth is quite powerful, and rooted below ground.  many trees and species easily overcome having their trunk girdled; others do not.  but true, for an evergreen gymnosperm species to sprout is more challenging than for most broad-leaved trees.  challenging, not impossible.

on my porch i have a pitch pine cookie -- cross-section slice from a 130 year old tree in old maids woods -- 21 acres of old growth hemlock, pine & oak just west of schenectady, NY.  on the inside of the trunk is a fractured cavity lined with charred wood.  our best guess is the tree was struck by lightning, but in any event, caught fire, burned badly, recovered, sealed the burn, encapsulated the wound, and kept on growing -- another 80 years.  

pitch pine are ancient at 100 years, routinely regenerate by fire, and occupy niches of infertile soils -- sandy, rocky, exposed.  pitch pine sap was harvested to make turpentine.  the albany pine bush occupies coarse sandy soils deposited on the bottom of a post-glacial lake that formed 10,000 years ago.  this nutrient-poor ecosystem is home to several rare plant, insect, frog, and turtle species.

these soils definitely needs carbon, nitrogen and charcoal, but when the was invaded by root-sprouting, nitrogen-fixing black locust (legume family), the pine bush preserve staff spent thousands having the black locust removed by machines.  except along the i-90 NYS thruway, where they still run rampant and bloom profusely every late spring.  black locust makes excellent, dense firewood that burns hot.

at any rate, "wildfire" evokes images of a tall, hot, intense wall of flames consuming everything in its path.  for our work, "smolder" is a much more apt term for what we can call "friendly fire" in nature.

David Yarrow
"If yer not forest, yer against us."
Turtle EyeLand Sanctuary
44 Gilligan Road, East Greenbush, NY 12061
dyarrow at nycap.rr.com
www.championtrees.org
www.OnondagaLakePeaceFestival.org
www.citizenre.com/dyarrow/
www.farmandfood.org
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"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, 
if one only remembers to turn on the light."  
-Albus Dumbledore
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Sean K. Barry 
  To: David Yarrow ; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 
  Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 6:53 PM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] wildfire


  Hi David, Larry, and others,

  Don't big trees like the giant Coastal Redwoods and big Douglas Firs survive crown fires?  I heard one in a tour out in California or Oregon in the Coastal Redwoods that you could burn everything off the outside of those trees all the way to the top and they would survive and re-sprout new growth right from the charred trunks.

  Just wondering?

  Regards,

  SKB

  ...
    big old trees will normally survive a cool ground fire of wet, green growth.  a high temperature crown fire fed by dense dry debris at ground level kills everything except the hardest seeds.

    David Yarrow
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