Recovery will require several decades to several centuries, depending on the intensity with which the fire burned. In places the heat was so intense that mineral particles in the soil actually fused together to form what amounts to a thin layer of rock. A similar catastrophic fire occurred on Mt. Graham last summer. The burned area was restricted to about 6,400 acres because of a fortunate change in wind direction. Otherwise, it could have been a lot worse.
Similar fates await most forests in the west.
The only hope lies in intensive forest management consisting of selective tree cutting, thinning and controlled burning. Unfortunately, environmental extremists don't seem to have gotten the message. One of their various groups stopped a much-needed tree thinning project near Alpine in the White Mountains last summer. If the environmental extremists succeed in their efforts, dead and dying trees are about all we will have left. I have been a Future Farmers of America member for four years now.