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English: The Springs Fire containment strategy includes reintroducing fire into the landscape in its’ natural role. Naturally occurring fire allows forests to be thinned, opening the canopy and allowing sunlight through which allows for the sprouting and re-growth of plants, shrubs, and trees. Fire also allows for the recycling of nutrients to the soil while reducing the amount of dead, woody debris. Prior to Euro-American suppression policies, fires ignited in the summer months by lightning storms would burn throughout the late summer and fall in the Sierra Nevada every seven to twenty-five years in a given area. These fires would slowly smolder with the cooler and shorter days and eventually be extinguished by rain or snow. Restoring the natural fire regime protects watersheds, wildlife, increases biodiversity, increases forest resistance and resiliency in an uncertain future, reduces the risk of severe wildfire, and smoke effects.

Photo depicts a stand of Jeffrey Pine where fire has moved through and cleaned out the underbrush, leaving the trees scorched and undamaged.

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Forest Service photo by Kerry Greene