No Burnin' Down the House

Eco-Factor:

Fire Potential:

After your landscape is set, look here to read about what's happening to your forest.

Background

You are the local forest ecologist who maintains a unit of Douglas-fir/Ponderosa Pine forest at North Cascades National Park. Your duty is to keep old John McMillian's cabin from burning down, while at the same time keeping the forest community healthy* and intact.

Procedure

Create the landscape of your choice by clicking the words below the landscape feature, then click "Set Landscape." A lightning button will appear. Click it to test your landscape under fire conditions. When your landscape has an Eco-factor of 8 or greater and your Fire Potential is 2 or less, the eagle will appear and take you to your next destination. Try again, if the eagle does not come to take you away. For help, study the definitions below.

Definitions

• Eco-factor (Range, 0-10): If the landscape has an adequate amount of light hitting the land and a diversity of tree types, a high Eco-factor will be assigned.
• Fire Potential (Range, 0-10): How well is John's cabin protected from fire? If few threats are nearby, a low number will be assigned.
• Meadow: Unique plants and wildflowers live in native meadows. Wildfires burn less hot on meadows and are more easily contained.
• Over-story: Older trees with high canopies provide shade for wildlife and shade-tolerant plants. Although, too much shade can rob light from the seedlings below and halt the ability for light-loving tees to reproduce. Over-story trees also help to re-seed the landscape with new generations of seedlings.
• PIPO (Pinus ponderosa): Ponderosa pine is a light-loving species and also known to be dependent on fire. Fire clears out the understory saplings and pole trees allowing more light and water to be available for the trees that survive. They are highly drought-tolerant.
• Pole: Young trees draw valuable moisture from the ground, shade out the forest floor and are vulnerable by fire.
• PSME (Pseudotsuga menziesii): Douglas-firs are cone-bearing trees with thick, fire-resistant bark. Their seedlings depend on high quantities of light and a fair amount of water to mature. In open areas where the lower branches are close to the ground, fire has the potential to reach the crown (top of the tree) by running up the lower branches.
• Snag: Snags are standing, dead trees. Wildlife depends on snags for shelter.

Back to Forest Rebirth

*Healthy implies that the ecology of the area will continue—into the foreseeable future—as a Douglas-fir/Ponderosa Pine forest community and that these trees will be able to reproduce upon the landscape.