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Author(s):
Richard L. Hutto
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fire Effects
Ecological - First Order
Fire Intensity / Burn Severity
Ecological - Second Order
Vegetation
Wildlife
Fire & Wildlife
Birds
Mammals
Habitat Assessment
Fire Regime

NRFSN number: 14506
Record updated:

In the Northern Rockies, forests that have escaped fire are rare. In the Crown, fire is just as important as rainfall and sunlight are to plants and animals. For the vast majority of forest types within the region, the predominant fire regime is one of infrequent, intense, stand-replacement fires—not one of frequent, low-intensity, understory burns. With ever-present fire in the system, we might expect that plants and animals have, over evolutionary time, not only come to survive severe fire, but to depend on severe fire for their persistence and success. That is the story I want to tell here.

Citation

Hutto, R.L. 2011. The beauty of a burned forest. Crown of the Continent Magazine. Fall: 42-49.

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