How can they state that the natural environment is oaklands and that the firs are invasive when the article even states that the native Americans and then the settlers continued the practice of burning the firs out every so many years to gain better hunting and later better grazing lands? The natural ecosystem progression in areas that have been denuded by fire in North America where rainfall reaches the rainforest level has always been grasses, brush, hardwoods the conifers over anywhere from 25-200 years to happen. In fact, the North American Plate was almost all conifers prior to the last ice age. It was only after the ice receded that hardwoods took over the northeast as settlers tried to keep grazing and farm lands open to more sunlight. If we are truly talking about natural states in the environment, the march of the conifers is absolutely natural. But that isn't what we are really talking about, we are talking about aesthetics and personal desires/needs of the current land owners, not nature here.
Re: “March of the Conifers”
How can they state that the natural environment is oaklands and that the firs are invasive when the article even states that the native Americans and then the settlers continued the practice of burning the firs out every so many years to gain better hunting and later better grazing lands? The natural ecosystem progression in areas that have been denuded by fire in North America where rainfall reaches the rainforest level has always been grasses, brush, hardwoods the conifers over anywhere from 25-200 years to happen. In fact, the North American Plate was almost all conifers prior to the last ice age. It was only after the ice receded that hardwoods took over the northeast as settlers tried to keep grazing and farm lands open to more sunlight. If we are truly talking about natural states in the environment, the march of the conifers is absolutely natural. But that isn't what we are really talking about, we are talking about aesthetics and personal desires/needs of the current land owners, not nature here.