Trees like Western Larch, Douglas-fir and Ponderosa Pine have developed bark so thick that it insulates the living tissue, allowing them to survive surface fires. Fire naturally occurred in stands of these trees every 5 to 20 years and kept the forest floor relatively clean of combustible material. Wildfires burn in varying intensities across a landscape, thereby increasing biodiversity by changing the composition and density of forests. Lodgepole pine needs fire, to an extent, to disperse its seeds, even though the trees are usually killed by it. Heat from a fire melts the resinous material that holds the cones' scales together, thereby releasing the seeds for a new forest.
Fires release the nutrients locked up in slowly decaying logs and other organic material.
Cattle, moose, deer and elk benefit from the browse created by fire. Naturally occurring fires also help to keep insects and disease in check by killing the pathogens infecting a stand. This is critical when you consider that in recent years, more than five times as much timber has been lost to insects and disease than has been consumed by wildfire. Fire as a natural disturbance is incorporated into the Biodiversity Guidebook , an ecosystem management approach that aims to provide suitable habitat for all native species. Before harvesting can take place on forested land, a detailed site prescription must be made by a forester.