Subject: Re: [permaculture] Re: Imitating fire + tree shredding equipmen
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 02 09:52:15 -0000
>> A fellow there has been working with BLM to imitate fire patterns in the
>> forest. They brought in an enormous rubber-tired machine from Idaho that's
>> essentially a giant chipper: a huge grinding wheel in front grabs whole
>> shrubs (manzanita trunks can be 8-10 inches diameter) and spews out small
>> sticks and chips. They cleared the understory of several hundred acres this
>> way, leaving small and large trees intact, and creating a mulch layer 3-6
>> inches deep.
Jean Pain invented his shredder initially to clear underbrush from forest
to reduce fire risk and used the shedded mulch for gigantic compost heaps.
I wonder if there's a defecit of browsers in forests that get these large
vegetative build-ups in the understory....
Robyn
Re: [permaculture] Re: Imitating fire + tree shredding equipmen,
permed, 04/24/2002