Fire not bulldozers

Michael Gochfeld gochfeld at eohsi.rutgers.edu
Fri Jun 15 05:59:42 EDT 2001


Actually, it was fire, both natural and man-made which created a mosaic 
of open habitats in the Eastern Hardwood biome and in many of the pine 
woods.  Frequent fires burned preventing the accumulation of litters, 
were welcome while fire suppression has allowed the accumulation of 
litter so that when fires rage out of control they are much hotter and 
more devastating than they would have been without suppression. 

Thus the way in which fires impact forests has been altered by human 
intervention.  The main role for bulldozers has been to create fire 
breaks, thereby contributing to fire suppression. 

M. Gochfeld

 
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