16BApril 24, 2003
The Cuba Free Press
/
Huzzah Creek Notes
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By Jerry Wilson,
Site Administrator
Dillard Mill State Historic
Site
Fire!
The U.S. Forestry Service
just did a controlled burn on
the 66 or so acres just north of
the park. I was real curious
but because of a very bad
head cold I was forced to stay
out of the smoke.
A couple of days later when
I walked through the area it
was interesting to see what
parts had burned off well and
what parts were seemingly
untouched. Most of the clouds
of smoke that you see this
time of year come from these
burns.
When I was a kid I saw all
these commercials involving
Smokey the Bear who re-
minded people that, "Only
you can prevent forest fires."
The thought then, was that all
forest fires were a bad thing.
Well it turned out that old
Smokey might have done his
job too well. Modern forestry
managers have began to re-
alize that fires, both man
made and those started by
lightning, were important to
the ecology of the forests.
Prehistoric people learned
that if they burned the woods
every few years this stimu-
lated the growth of young
tender plants which in turn
provided more food for deer
and other game animals.
Early Euro-American set-
tlers continued this practice
to provide more food for free
roaming livestock.
Then along came old
Smokey who tried to put an
end to this practice. The prob-
lem turned out to be that
when the woods were burned
every three to five years,
dead leaves, sticks and trees
did not build up enough fuel
to make a real hot fire. A
quick momentary hot fire
does not bother a healthy
large tree. Over millions of
years the trees have devel-
oped defenses against this.
What harms them is a fire
that is hot for an extensive
lengh of time. When the
woods burned every few
years, the fires would just
kind of flash through, burn-
ing a thin layer of dead
leaves, a few sticks and the
occasional large fallen limb
or dead tree. It would kill
some of the small under-
growth bushes and maybe
small trees, but the healthy
large trees were usually not
harmed.
These fires also benefited
the trees and plants by more
quickly liberating the nutri-
ents that were locked up i n
the dead leaves and dead
wood. If we get enough rain,
that 66 acres will be excep-
tionally lush this summer.
While most of the rodents
and other small animals
were able to outrun or burrow
under the ground to escape
the effects of the fire, right
now the field mice and voles
are probably having a rough
life.
All the grass and weeds
that hid their runs has been
burned away and they are
right out in the open. Every
tall tree seems to have a
large hawk sitting in it. The
hunting is good for them
right now and tough for the
small rodents.
Luckily nature has given
the rodents a quick reproduc-
tion rate, and I have no doubt
that by this fall this area will
again be home to large num-
bers of these animals. I did
see some turkey buzzards
circling the area so there
must have been some crea-
tures that didn't escape the
fire.
While I didn't see any
dead animals, I can imagine
such animals as box turtles
and perhaps some small
snakes and lizards not being
able to move away fast
enough. If there were rabbit
nests or bird nests on the
ground or in the low bushes
these too would have per-
ished. Again, luckily, it is
probably early enough in the
season that the adult animals
will be able to produce more
offspring.
Right now much of the field
looks barren and deserted
and I must remind myself
that this is just a stage in the
renewal of life and that
things will soon be beautiful
again on the banks of the
Huzzah Creek.
Teens have a pizza party with senwr , ,,, ,
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National Honor Society students from Cuba High School were treated to a pizza party at the Cuba Senior Center on
The event was planned as an Intergenerational gathering, bringing together young people with senior citizens.
sodas were paid for by a Cuba Wal-Mart grant.
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