Review by Ed Quillen
Wildfire – July 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Charcoal Forest – How Fire Helps Animals and Plants
Written and illustrated by Beth A. Peluso
Published in 2007 by Mountain Press
ISBN 0878425322
IT’S HARD TO EVALUATE a children’s book when you don’t have any children around to test it on. But it is worth noting that this book presents a much different attitude about wildfire than what I learned as a kid.
Back then, forest fires were an unmitigated evil on the order of global communism. Flames destroyed valuable timber and ruined watersheds. We were exposed to Smokey Bear messages often at school, and in Cub Scouts we were taught to pour water on a campfire until it resembled a wading pool. The kids’ movie Bambi had a horrifying forest fire that sent all critters racing for the river, and public-service announcements on TV showed terrified animals and reminded us that forest fires do not kill only trees.
As this book illustrates, attitudes have changed. Now fire is presented as a natural portion of the forest cycle, one that animals and plants have adapted to. Just like rain or snow, fire is hard on some creatures and a benefit to others.
Among the beneficiaries is the familiar lodgepole pine, as the book explains:
“A fire may roast all of the needles off a lodgepole pine, or even kill the tree, but the lodgepole has a backup plan. This tree grows two kinds of cones. One kind opens its scales when the seeds inside are ripe. The second kind, called a serotinous (suh- RAH-tuh-nus) cone, opens only after a fire. This cone may cling to the branches, waiting to release its seeds, for up to forty years! Like saving coins in a piggy bank, storing seeds for years means many seeds are ready when a fire finally comes. Resin, a natural glue, holds the serotinous cone closed until the fire melts the resin. The sturdy cone protects the seeds from the heat. After the resin melts, the scales of the cone dry out and curl open to release the seeds. Once the seed wings covering them fall off, lodgepole seeds are black or speckled to blend in with the sooty ground after a fire. This hides them from birds or other seedeaters so they have a better chance of starting new lodgepoles in the charcoal forest.”
A glossary in back offers more details about “serotinous cones” and resin, “a sticky secretion produced by conifers that does not dissolve in water. In serotinous cones, the resin hardens and holds the cone shut until melted by fire.”
That sample should demonstrate that this book’s text is clear and informative. So are its illustrations, and they’re a little whimsical, as well. It keeps things simple, without talking down to young readers. Not only does it cover flora, from fungus to ponderosa, and fauna, from insects and tiny deer mice to grizzly bears, but it also explains the various types of wildfires.
I found only two problems. One is that the book isn’t even close to being balanced in its portrayal of wildfire. Granted, it has decades of Smokey propaganda to overcome, but some mention of the erosion that results from denuded steep hillsides might provide a better understanding of the recovery from big events like the 2002 Hayman Fire in Colorado. I don’t think it’s wise for kids to think fires are so much a part of nature that they might become careless or perhaps even pyromanic.
The other problem is that this book focuses on the Northern Rockies of Idaho and Montana. That specialization is a benefit if you live there, but some featured species in this book, like the black-backed woodpecker and the western larch, do not abide in the Southern Rockies of Colorado. There were others that were also unfamiliar to me, but I didn’t have time to check on them, and I’m not enough of a naturalist to know their range off the top of my head. But it would be nice if there were another edition for our region — and perhaps author and illustrator Beth A. Peluso could be persuaded to create one.
In the meantime, this book clearly explains how wild animals and plants have adapted to fire in the woods, and that wildfire is not a permanent desolation but another step in the natural course. Wildfire may not be a cause for celebration, but it is something kids should learn about, and this is a good way to start.
