A new study, using a first-of-its-kind approach to analyze satellite imagery from boreal forests over the last three decades, has found that fire may be changing the face of the region in a way researchers did not previously anticipate.
As someone who lives and works in the environments this study is talking about, it’s not surprising at all.
About a decade ago I was right at ground zero of a huge forest fire, and it wiped out everything right down to bare rock. The first things to start growing were the grasses and the like, followed by quick growing deciduous trees, and then what you saw is the slower growing coniferous trees started to outcompete the deciduous trees because they could grow all year round while the deciduous trees needed to get all their growing done during the late spring, summer, and early fall.
It’s been really interesting watching the lifecycle of a forest right before my eyes. It’s the sort of real life you don’t understand from a desk in a building in a city.
As someone who lives and works in the environments this study is talking about, it’s not surprising at all.
About a decade ago I was right at ground zero of a huge forest fire, and it wiped out everything right down to bare rock. The first things to start growing were the grasses and the like, followed by quick growing deciduous trees, and then what you saw is the slower growing coniferous trees started to outcompete the deciduous trees because they could grow all year round while the deciduous trees needed to get all their growing done during the late spring, summer, and early fall.
It’s been really interesting watching the lifecycle of a forest right before my eyes. It’s the sort of real life you don’t understand from a desk in a building in a city.