permaculture

[Rick Valley <bamboogrove@cmug.com>]

Kirby says:

> I've been hearing a bit about how the BLM's grazing policy,
> though destructive in some ways, has been beneficial in reducing fuel loads
> and wildfire risks.
> 
> Even if you're going to introduce megafauna, however, there's still the
> issue of what to plant and how to "prep" the site where you'll be planting.
The animals can pehaps prep the site. What to plant? Depends on the site.
What did grow there 50, 200, 20,000 yrs. ago?

> I wonder what animals, besides sheep and goat, could be introduced into the
> forested regions of Arizona to reduce fuel loads?  Mule deer, pronghorn
> sheep...
Beaver any place there's water. Camelids- maybe try Guanaco? And certainly
some sort of Equids, and jaguars should be allowed to continue
re-establishing their range. And maybe elephants. Damn shame that ground
sloths just aren't available.

> Then as Mark was saying the bigger the trees are the less likely you are to
> have a crown fire.  This ties back to the article I posted a while back
> about wildfires occurring predominantly on secondary growth forests which
> were severely logged.  All of the tall old growth is basically replaced by a
> denser, younger trees.
> 
> So the trick for secondary growth may be to maintain a certain spacing,
> reducing risk of wildfire, until the trees are large enough to withstand a
> ground fire.
Which means munching lots of small trees and shrubs in many cases.
-Rick