Listen to graduate student Kate Wilkin Thursday October 2nd on NPR affiliate Capital Public Radio at (Morning Edition at 630 and 830 AM, All Things Considered at 430 PM) as part of a five part series on Fire in California. Check out the multimedia series or read about Kate’s adventure with an NPR reporter.
Kate Wilkin guided Capital Public Radio reporter, Amy Quinton, through Yosemite National Park’s Illilouette Basin to discuss “where fire works” in California. They explored an area where lightning strike fires have been allowed to burn since the 1970s resulting in a restored forest with a rich fire history. The rich fire history demonstrates that once fires are allowed to burn, they are self-limiting. The fires start to fit together like a jig saw puzzle. The past fire prevents a future fire. After a decade or more, past fires no longer limit the extent of other fires, but they often moderate fire severity, or how many trees are killed. The restored forest has quilt-like patches of unique communities and range from open park like forests to shrub lands, dense baby trees, and wetlands all with diverse plants and animals on the forest floor. Learn more at http://www.cafiresci.org/blog/.