Forestry experts and scientists from Oregon State University have just published an article that shows forests are naturally regenerating in the wake of searing forest fires.

Though natural regeneration generally took longer to produce pines and firs, it created a more varied forest, even after brush had become established, which is likely to benefit wildlife, concluded to the study by scientists from Oregon State University appearing in Wednesday’s issue of the Journal of Forestry. - full article

This is an ongoing debate and one we are facing as an organization with the Mt Rainier Recovery. What are your views on this?

By Jay Satz
From his December 21, 2006 visit to Mt. Rainier

Over a two day period in early November 2006, Washington State’s iconic Mt. Rainier National Park received up to 18 inches of rainfall, which in any other November would more likely have fallen as three or four feet of snow. The resulting cascades of water from the rain and melted snow and ice from Rainier’s glaciated peak created some of the worst flooding in the mountain’s history as a national park. Since those couple of extraordinary days, in an unprecedented situation, the park has been completely closed to the public.

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