Forest Fires the 10 A.M. Policy

The 10:00 a.m. policy and the let it burn policy are both good ideas in theory but the aftermath to them are both costly in their own ways and helpful in others. In the 10:00 a.m. policy it leaves much kindling on the forest floor from each fire and in turn causing the next fire to be more disastrous to the environment. Then there is the let it burn policy which also is extremely dangerous to the environment because it destroys millions of acres of land and for a period of time before the re-growth a lot of animals lose their homes. With the 10:00 a.m. policy any fire that breaks out was to be under control by 10:00 a.m. the following day. This policy was based on the theories about forest management in the plantation forests of Europe. But ecologists have later discovered that burning is essential for the preservation of many natural forest communities. For example the cone of the jack pine and the lodgepile pine will not release seeds unless they are exposed to the intense heat of a forest fire. Fire also helps animals by allowing new vegetation to grow on the cleared soil. Fire plays a huge role in natural forests. The let it burn policy allows natural fires to burn unless, they threaten people, property, or endangered species. This policy allows the years and years of kindling that has fallen and piled up on the forest floor to burn up in smaller fires, instead of having huge devastating fire like the ones that burning for months in 1910 and 1988. When the west was first settled, forests were thinned by lumber companies that logged the trees and burned the logging debris, and by ranchers looking to increase pasture land. The last herder coming out of the mountains would set a fire to ensure good forage for the next year. With fire playing such a huge role in our forest societies I think that sthe let it burn policy is the way to go. We need to allow for nature to set its course even in our beautiful forestry. The vegetation also benefits from