However, after careful study many scientists have found that fires are part of a natural process that have occurred throughout history. The occasional forest fire is actually beneficial for the forest. The fires that have occurred for thousands of years were started naturally not by careless humans throwing cigarette butts into the woods. One advantage of fire to the forest is that it burns away underbrush allowing sunlight to penetrate the soil to help seeds grow and they clear away competition for existing tall trees. Some seeds only grow after they have been burned by fire such as the Jack Pine.
Fires also make the soil rich in nutrients such as phosphorous, calcium, and magnesium.
Shortly after fires, new plants such as aspen and birch begin growing in the nutrient rich, competition-free soil. Aspen and birch are relatively short lived but during their lifetime they dominate the canopy taking most of the sunlight before it reaches the trees below. The white spruce and the balsam fir wait for these trees to eventually die before they get their turn to dominate the forest. After fires have burned an area, herbivores such as moose, deer, and snowshoe hares are attracted to the new green shoots that grow. These animals then attract wolves.