FOREST FIRES A HELP?
The concern which we of Seldovia, in com
pany with other i.laskans everywhere, have
felt during the recent Kenai conflagration,
have brought us needless gray hairs, we
learn* this week*
In a report from -lunch Sr'age', two /Fish and
Wildlife Service experts just in : from ’Chi
cago, have announced that contrary to all
current reports of the fire is devastation,
Kenaifs blaze this summer definitely "aided"
the area.
The experts know, for they spent one
whole day flying over the country in a com
fortable F17S plane, and at one point even
went so far as to land on a lake -and hike
for "several miles" through burned - over
land* ,rrhen they returned to anchorage they
issued a report which stated that the fire
was "beneficial to the moose" for only
spruce and other vegetation "of no value" to
moose was destroyed* , •
They further commented that the fire "ap
parently didn’t injure the soil#.although
one Alaskan agent of the Service 'recently
went to some length to explain to xlaskaps,
just what damage the Kertai blaze might do’to
the soil and how it might be expected to af
fect future vegetable growth there. The ex**
ports continue their report, stating that
according to their investigation, we repeat,
carried on primarily from the seats of an
agency plane* there is not much evidence oB
destruction of life of small animals and
birds.
The Chicago experts conclude their re
port with the remark that "it (the fire) was
not nearly as bad as reported.".
Just how any man, even a Chicago e.xpert,
can dismiss 75 miles of burned - over land
from mind so easily is hard for an ^laskan ‘
to understand. It is also a little diffi
cult to grasp their ability to make a survey
of a fire’s effect on bird and small animal
life from an airplane soaring over the area.
We’re not experts, of course, but we always
thought that took a good bit of hiking and
scouting through an area before any thorough
survey could be made.
If the fir3 didn't
do as much damage as
was at first reported,
we're certainly glad
to know it 4 On the
other hand, we feel a
•bit of resentment when, v
Outside ''-agents; do a
quick check and report
that; what we have al
ways believed to be a
wilderness's worst .
scourge is really of
"benefit.* -How. any
thing which dos tr oys,
as the Kenai fire did,
acres and acres of
timbered beauty, could
be~-termed beneficial,
we- fail to see* It
would probably be as
correct to say that an
inferno raging through
the slum districts of
a large city, leaving
destruction and home
less wanderers in its
wake, is actually ''do*
ing good.1' It's a
appealed to us yeti
We*d prefer to
think., and we have
read no reason in any
report to make us
change our mind yet,
that any fire which
destroys even one mile
of timber, overtakes
even a handful of nest
lings in . its path, or
cremates even one lit
ter of beaver or other
small animal life, is
a thing to be feared,
hated, and prevented
at any cost•
we still think that
the thousands of dol
(Cont. next page)