Maria Canton
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 16/99) - The natural, healthy process of forest fires is a fact that is recognized and promoted by Northern forest management services, says an extension forester for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development.

"Fire is ecologically a part of the environment and we have to allow for it," says Ken Caine.

"As a natural process, the more we try and suppress a fire, the more disastrous the effects will potentially be."

This logic is maintained by RWED through their directive of fighting forest fires. If human life is not at risk and there are no values at risk, such as properties, then the department would prefer to let the fire burn its natural course rather than immediately trying to suppress it.

And because the North isn't economically tied into a heavily relied on forestry industry like that of the south, less pressure and greater freedom is granted to fire officials in allowing a fire to run its course and rejuvenate the forest.

"A fire naturally runs through a forest about once every 80 years," says Caine.

"It kills disease and insects and allows for a revitalization of the forest. To really notice the benefits, you have to do something in the burn area after a fire to realize it is very much alive."

Caine says this during a 10-day camp at Tibbitt Lake in which local youths are learning about the affects fire has on a forest.

The camp is established in such a way that the group will take samples of plants, mammals and insects from the burn side and from a green side. The green side being an area that was not affected by last year's fire that burned 165,000 acres of forest between Tibbitt Lake and Gordon Lake.

"Everyone thinks it takes 20 years for anything to grow again after a fire, but it doesn't, it only takes a year. Pioneer species always come in quickly to stabilize and keep nutrients in the roots and ground," Caine says.

Over the course of history, most of the boreal forest species have adapted to accommodate the throws of fire. For example, cones from a jack pine will only open to release seeds with the heat from a fire, naturally reseeding the area.

Common pioneer species that are among the first to rejuvenate a burned area are fireweed, lungwort, wildrose, jack pines and birch trees.

"We think of burns as a cleansing for the forest," says Lance Schmidt, manager, forests for RWED in the North Slave Region.

"Once a forest becomes old and decadent it needs fire to get it up and going again. Northern forests are a fire-dependent ecosystem."

Indicators that a forest may be nearing its time to burn are an abundance of dead woody material on the floor of the forest and stagnant tree growth.

"Almost everywhere you go out here there are signs of burns," says Schmidt.

"And we are already seeing re-growth in the area that was burned last summer with some small birch trees, a few small jack pines, mosses and grasses."

Data collected at the fire effects camp will be passed on to biologists to analyze and compare to the rate of re-growth from other burn sites.