Aren wildfires good for the natural forest environment?
The frequent, low intensity, slow burning fires of the past, which removed low vegetation and cleaned the forest floor, can be healthy for forests. This kind of fire is natural to the ecosystem, helping old growth trees to survive and even improving wildlife habitats. But the high intensity and hot burning catastrophic fires that can sweep through an overly dense forest can destroy trees and cause unacceptable loss of wildlife and their habitat. Today’s forests, dense with green vegetation, may seem to be beautiful, but in fact are deadly. Many forests choked with brush and dead trees that make catastrophic fires a certainty.
