Regrowth from 1920s burn is visible in the left half of the top photo. One place the Forest Service does allow fire to roam freely is the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in western Montana. In this vast territory, the size of Lake Michigan, on the west face of the Rockies, fire is about as elusive as the grizzly bears it shares the landscape with. Dave Horner's Cessna is doing a great job of compressing the distance.
Some fires merely tease the forest, burning little islands.
Years later the line between young and old trees is but a subtle change in shades of green. In contrast, three quite distinct textures blanket the forest's Helen Creek area. The drainage first burned in the 1920s, leaving what's become light green islands of new subalpine fir and snags. Then much of the area burned again in 1994, reopening large patches of bare, brown ground. Sharp borders between the greens and brown dutifully follow the ridgetops and creekbeds. .