westernrvparkowner wrote:
The huge, destructive fires were in 1988. Fires occur yearly, and are an essential part of a healthy forest. the odds are almost 100% that there will be fires this year and next year and every year thereafter. There is no fire damage that will impact a visitor and if not for the informational signs many people would never know there was a fire, ever.
The dominant tree in the Yellowstone region is Lodgepole Pine -- a fascinating tree with an interesting ecology. The particular variant found in the Rockies needs fire for the cones to open and disperse seeds (the technical term is serotinous). Lodgepole Pine is shade intolerant -- it needs full sunlight for the seeds the germinate and seedlings to grow. It will not thrive in even a partial shade from a nearby tree. The best conditions for regeneration is right after a fire when there is no canopy and bare ground. So the tree evolved to release seeds only after a fire.
Lodgepole forests tend to be even aged and single species for this reason. And they grow with very high density -- 1000s of trees per acre until they get big enough to start shading out and killing the weaker trees. In overcrowded conditions trees grow straight and tall with very little taper. Native Americans used these straight tall nearly uniform trees in constructing their lodges (hence the name). For the same reason nearly all the log cabin kit houses are lodgepole pine.
Because the forest is even age and most of the trees approximately the same size, any insect or disease infestation will effect every tree in the forest. They die off in droves all at once. Any fire that starts will be a high intensity stand replacing fire fueled by all the dead and down trees. The few survivors will release their seeds and start the cycle all over again. The 1988 fires were right on schedule, since the previous mega fire in the area was in the 1600s, another one in the 1200s, and so on. Look for the next mega fire in Yellowstone during the 24th century.
A strange quirk -- the variant of Lodgepole Pine that grows in the Sierra Nevada in California is not serotinous and does not need fire to regenerate. For the real botany enthusiasts -- there is another variant of lodgepole pine that grows along the north coast of California, in the maritime influence zone, that basically stays a bush. It does not grow into a tall tree.
