Fires can be devastating but what comes after can be even more dangerous. The conditions after a fire or deforestation for lumber are that undergrowth is burned or trampled and soil is destabilized. This creates a huge mudslide hazzard that can be more deadly than the actual fire. Mudslides can come as fast as earthquakes, burying everything in its path. After fires, many things regrow and within some years the mountain is vegetated sparsely. What the mountain needs is a head start, and in comes the forest carpet bomb:::

The bombs are dropped into devastated areas where slopes are barren and before impact, the bomb releases its clusters full of seeds. The seeds are of many varieties but will include those plants most valuable for their root systems that hold soil together. For plants that need irrigation more than others, they will be dropped in a biodegradeable pod that has a drip supply of water to nourish the tree until it roots. The bomb will be biodegrade of course by being made of wood and other earthen products.

Advantages: Don't need to send out arborists (if they would even be considered in the first place). Just send up the planes or helecopters. Fast reforestation in even inaccessable areas.

Disadvantages: Less successful germination rates for a less personalized touch. Animals will be harder to reintroduce.
-- twitch, Dec 06 2006

Artificial reseeding after fires http://www.botany.w...aget&Waller1999.pdf
As just a quick perusal of the abstract points out, the grasses and other quick-growing species which are often introduced to a burnt-over area to quickly reintroduce groundcover and soil-stabilisation can be detrimental to the long-term health and bio-diversity of these sensitized areas. [jurist, Dec 06 2006]

Pyrotechnic Planting Pyrotechnic_20planting
topical self-promotion [csea, Dec 06 2006]

Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) http://www.nps.gov/nifc/fire/fir_baer.cfm
"First Aid" for imperiled areas. [jurist, Dec 06 2006]

Air_20Drop_20Bull_20Riding [pertinax, Dec 06 2006]

Post-fire reseeding projects are quite common, even by air. While the science still seems to require perfecting, there certainly seem to be a lot of folks working in this area. I don't find anything new in your presentation. [See the National Park Service BAER link below.]
-- jurist, Dec 06 2006


Great minds think similarly. See "Pyrotechnic Planting" [link]

My Dad's house and about 400 others were destroyed in 2001 by a "preventative" fire set by the forest service on what turned out to be a windy day. The damage done by the fire was only part of the mess; it was a huge effort to control erosion after the fire.

sp:helicopters
-- csea, Dec 06 2006


yes this idea seems to be very baked... Another internet search gone awry. should I delete?
-- twitch, Dec 06 2006


//Animals will be harder to reintroduce.//

...except for [phlish]'s bulls; see link.
-- pertinax, Dec 06 2006



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