Sunday, January 22, 2012

Doing The Work of Fire: A Follow Up

The sound of chainsaws and wood chippers always makes me uneasy.
Even when the task is right and good, it just seems wrong when a tree falls to machinery and tools.
Still, the century-old practice of fire suppression makes raging wildfires inevitable. So, we strike a balance. We do what a lightning strike or prescribed burn would do, we take out the slash, brush, brambles. We take out the weak and crowded.

We change our world, and go from this to this .
We clear the understory.

15 comments:

Muffy's Marks said...

Sad to see, but in the long run a thick forest is a dead forest.

Dave @ Around Anchorage, Alaska said...

With the chance of wild fire, it's best to clean things up and thin it out.

Pablo said...

Good work. Now come to my forest and do the same.

am said...

Looks like a grateful forest to me, with the winter sunlight and blue sky shining in. Just like the forest in the old photos.

Balance has been lovingly restored, with recognition as to how difficult it is to watch trees fall to machinery and tools in the process.

Floridacracker said...

EurerGood forest management. You and the trees are safer now.

Arkansas Patti said...

It looks so much better and safer for you and the remaining trees--plus the wild life and Bums that would be with out a home if you didn't. Well done.

Taradharma said...

you've done a great job, as evidenced by the photos. you've got a lot of sawdust there. see http://www.woodworkingformeremortals.com/2010/10/whole-lot-of-uses-for-sawdust.html

isabelita said...

I just finished reading a decription of witnessing a forest fire John Muir wrote back in the mid 1800's, when he and a mule named Brownie were trekking around seeing what the range of Sequoias was. Astounding details and imagery; of course back then there was more room for the fires to range. They didn't have to be managed by humans.
You have to protect where you live...

kathy a. said...

your trees are lookin' good!

Judy (kenju) said...

You're doing the right thing.

NCmountainwoman said...

The forest is happy again.

C. Corax said...

Killing trees is horrific, but death is part of the circle of life and nothing would be gained by allowing the conditions for a wildfire--the trees would die anyway, wouldn't they? But you'd lose your home as well.

You are not taking the trees down callously, but with respect for them and with a hope of saving the forest from worse devastation.

Wren said...

That's the true test, isn't it? Doing the right thing when it's hard.

Thanks, too, for your kind note - it came at time when it was much appreciated.

Patry Francis said...

Clearing the understory--sounds like what I'm doing with my new novel. Hope it comes out as spare and clean as your forest!

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