Wildfire can be nature’s own tree removal service, as burning away brush and scrub can help to remove dead, weak and diseased trees and to rejuvenate the healthy, native species. Within reason, and in moderation, a fire will do a lot to maintain the vitality of a forest and encourage a more open forest floor.
In recent years, though, efforts to fight and limit forest fires have led to denser forests than we have ever seen. One article about wildfires in the Pacific Northwest includes an interview with Oregon Forests Resource Institute Lead Forester Mike Cloughesy. “Historically a fire would burn along the ground and burn many, many acres, but not kill many trees,” Cloughesy said in the interview. “Where you might’ve historically had 40 trees per acre, you now have 4,000 trees per acre.”
By having such dense thickets of forested terrain, fire that ordinarily would have burned along the ground and left trees intact is now leaping from the ground up into the branches and canopies of the forest’s trees. The thicker brush serves as a ladder up to the top canopies of the trees.
As a result, forest fires are becoming wilder, more destructive, and more difficult to contain. Fires can now skip from treetop to treetop. With that added elevation, burning leaves and twigs can blow hundreds of feet in the air, and take flight on strong winds. Those heavy winds and high, burning tinder can travel across highways, rivers, and other natural barriers that once helped contain the expansion of the burn zones.
Some of this devastation could be managed by removing some trees, thinning the brush, and scaling back some of the tertiary growth which is turning our wooded areas into tinder boxes during dry spells.
Having tree removal experts come in to manage some of these more overgrown areas could help prevent fires. Or, at the very least, it may reduce the amount of damage that these raging infernos may wreak upon our woodlands when they occur.
Some may argue against the thinning of these forest lands based on aesthetics. But given the massive increase in tree density – from 40 trees per acre to 4,000 – this type of project is no longer a question of aesthetics, it is a question of sustainability. Do we want forests that will thrive for dozens, if not hundreds, of years? Or do we want forests that are constantly in danger of erupting into an inferno? These preventative steps can help ensure the health and longevity of the trees themselves, and will also protect the wildlife that depend upon these wooded areas for their habitat.
These same lessons can be applied to our own homes and gardens. Leaving dead trees, excessive amounts of brush growth, and other types of dry bushes and grasses, especially close to our homes, can open us up to risk from brush fires or having house fires move more easily from one home to the next.
If you have any concerns about fires in your area or dead trees or brush around your home, please reach out to us. Tree Images is your trusted, local Cincinnati tree removal service company. We offer thorough estimates, so give us a call at 513-528-4167 or use our contact form, and let us show you how we can help you and your trees.
