Article Author:
Associated Press
Michael R. Blood
Lone Pine, CA (AP) — Flame goes out. Firefighters extinguish the last embers. The last curl of smoke is unwound in the wind.
A wildfire in the California wilderness has ended, leaving only bony pines and leafless oaks, scorched meadows, and gray stumps where saplings once stood. A darkened landscape.
Then life slowly returns.
In a still-charred corner of the Inyo National Forest, a playground for hiking, camping and fishing, a year after wind-blown wildfires erupted on the rocky mountainside of Lone Pine, California. , a flash of new growth is emerging. About 350 miles (563 km) southeast of San Francisco.
Small clusters of white and purple wildflowers stand out against the bare pines, many of which have been stripped of their bark in the fire. Green sprouts of horsetail, thin as stringy stoxa, from the ground beneath the barren branches of the tree. A handful of new leaves emerge like a fresh bouquet from among the incinerated stumps.
This is the beginning of a long recovery, a cycle that is repeating more frequently in the West as climate change brings drier, hotter seasons and more wildfires.
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Fires burn at varying intensities as roars blaze across the landscape. Some of the trees that tower over the hillside are dead, but others can only recover from being bent. increasing.
"Some shrub species and other grass species are more fire-adapted and can bounce back more quickly," says the United States. Post-Fire Restoration Program Manager Todd Ellsworth said. forest service.
But it could be five years before the ground cover returns to its pre-fire state. His one trunk of a pinyon pine is so badly damaged that the needles burn off the branches, charring the trunk and never growing back.
"Conifers don't grow back quickly," Ellsworth said, referring to certain pines and other trees with cones. From time to time it is up to the forester to go to the woods and replant.
Small fragile flowers and patches of fresh growth against bleak hillsides and gray rock slabs are a reminder that they are part of California's ecosystem, including the eastern Sierra Nevada where fires broke out.
Firefighters sought to minimize impact to combat the blazes, as "wildfires play an important role in maintaining the landscape of these areas." He said he used techniques to limit
Some species only flower after wildfires.
The fire area is not far from the trailhead to Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental United States at 14,505 feet (4,421 meters), and is home to the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. increase. To white pine, which is a candidate for endangered species.
News reports and press releases for June and July 2021 attributed the wildfires to lightning strikes and forced the evacuation of nearly 600 acres (243 ha) of wind-driven fires. , closed access to nearby roads, hiking trails and campgrounds. Firefighters used helicopters to drop water on the fire, burning the rugged terrain.
The impacts of climate change can have a significant impact on reforestation.
A 2018 study in the journal Ecology Letters examined nearly 1,500 wildfire sites and found that less forest reverted to the pre-burn wood mix due to hotter, drier climates. , found that in some cases the trees did not return. Jeez.
Camille Stevens Luhmann, assistant professor at Colorado State University and co-author of the study, said wildfires are getting bigger and more intense, killing more trees. At the same time, he said it was occurring more frequently.
"There are a lot of places that are probably climatically different than when those (coniferous) species were established," she said.
If hotter, drier climates are not conducive to regeneration of these trees, "they will not recover," she added.