Our Forests in Need

Benefits of Planting Trees in These Areas

• The roots of these young trees will help hold the soil in place, so it doesn’t wash away with heavy rains or melting snow.
• The seedlings will help keep ash from the fire from washing into rivers and streams, where it can harm fish and people.
• As they grow, the trees will provide homes and food for animals.
• Newly planted trees will keep the air fresh and clean.
• Planting trees today will help make the forest as beautiful as it was before the fire.
• Replanting trees will make hiking, camping, fishing and other fun activities in the forest more enjoyable.

About Forest Fires

Not all fires in the forest are bad. Light, periodic burning clears out buildups of downed trees and other “fuels,” creating browse for elk and deer, thinning out undesirable competition so that older, more fire-resistant species can thrive, and providing other services in a healthy ecosystem.

But often fuels have built up over too many decades. When a large wildfire rages through a forest, it can generate temperatures in excess of 2,000 degrees, the per acre equivalent to an atomic explosion. In the wake of a fire like this, only blackened skeletons of trees remain. Trees both large and small are gone, nutrients stored in leaves and branches are volatilized, seed sources are burned up, soil binding roots deteriorate, and even soil organisms are destroyed. The land is left virtually lifeless.

The challenge of managing wildland fire in the United States has dramatically increased in recent years. Large wildfires now threaten millions of acres of public and private land, particularly in areas where vegetation patterns have been altered by development, land-use practices, and aggressive fire suppression.