Since moving to BC I have always been surprised at how people seem to value conifer trees over deciduous trees. They are always quick to cut down the Aspen, Birch, and Cottonwoods, leaving the Spruce, Fir, and Balsam. This practice was especially evident while I was working for the BC Forest Service, where they had programs called “weeding” and “thinning” which meant taking out the deciduous trees to allow the confers to more unimpeded.
The Teare Cr. Fire which we recently experience, really displayed the value of having stands of deciduous trees in a forest. In the photo above I have outlined in white, stands of Aspen and Birch that seem to have survived the fire and had become a barrier to the spreading fire. ( Unlike the Aspen which in the photo show light green color, the Birch trees had not yet leaved out so still look whitish.) The area lined in pink shows a stand of confers which burned when the fire jumped over the Aspen and torched the conifers.
Of course a fire can travel through an Aspen stand, but it has to burn on the ground instead of
“flagging” from tree top to tree top, as it can do in a pure stand of conifers.
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