Post-fire Postscript

On October 2, 2022, fire roared through the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey where trees were planted by hand starting in 1903. Climate change, severe drought, and ample underbrush created conditions for a spark to ignite the catastrophic Bovee Fire.  Nearly a quarter of the 25,000 acres of trees burned in this unique experimental forest in the vast grasslands of the Nebraska Sandhills. 

Pitch oozes through the charred bark of a mature Ponderosa Pine in a futile attempt to save itself.  Wind and rain mix sand and ash into patterns of erosion.  Trunks of row-planted Eastern Redcedar cast shadows on bare sand.  Burned trees are cut and stacked for the first timber sale in this failed lumber production experiment.  The towering log decks will not remain, as even dead trees are fuel for future wildfires.  Native grasses and forbs grow vigorously after a regenerative fire.  Horizontal trees bear the marks of logging machines and bark beetles.  Burned chips of bark, dry needles, and pine cones decompose on the forest floor.  A pine seed sprouts from the ashes.