Watching trees go up in flames is traumatic,       because forests are beautiful and valuable and it  takes a long time to grow a new one. Certainly wildfire kills many trees and shrubs, and burned areas may show the scars for many years.  Some habitats are destroyed and animals have to move.  However, many of our native plant and animal species have a remarkable ability to regenerate and the process begins almost immediately after a fire.

Lodgepole pine, for example, insures its continued existence by producing enormous amounts of seed.  Seeds from trees that are not killed quickly blow into the ash.  If even a small percentage of these seeds germinate and live through the seedling stage, there will be thousands of new healthy lodgepole saplings within a few years.

Some cones of lodgepole and other pine trees are very tightly packed and full of resin. If these are not burned, the heat of the  fire actually helps them open so that their seeds are released at  just the right time and place.

Another strategy, employed by aspens, willows and some other trees and shrubs, is to re-sprout from root suckers.  An aspen grove is usually just one tree with many genetically identical trunks that are connected under ground.  When the tree crowns burn, fire actually stimulates the aspen to produce new sprouts from the roots to renew the stand. Aspens reproduce by sprouting much more commonly than by seed.

Both lodgepole and aspen are increasingly susceptible to disease and insects as they grow older.  If  fire occurs in patches at eighty to one hundred year intervals, it actually reduces disease and insect infestations making a healthier forest.

Many natural phenomena, such as fire, create short-term damage to individuals, but have long-term benefits to living systems.  I’m Gene Gade of the University of Wyoming

Cooperative Extension Service.