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Show 79 young jack pines. After the pines grow so tall that their branches no longer shelter the nests, the warblers have to move to a new young stand. In Michigan, vihere the Kirtland warbler is protected, stands of old jack pines are burned every five years, allowing new seeds to be released and sprout so that the birds can always find young trees with low-enough branches. This burning policy is named Operation Popcone. After fire clears the land, the vegetation vihich comes up in the following spring is different from the kind that grevi there before the fire, Grass seeds blow in first. When the grass grovis, it provides shade for germinating shrubs and flowers - sagebrush, larkspur, loco weed and others - so that their tiny starts don't dry out. These plants, as they grow, provide shade for seedling trees, and the original vegetation starts to return to the area. Usually by ten years after a fire, a burned area is once again covered with the same kind of growth that was there before the fire, but now all the trees are in a young, healthy condition. Most people are slovi to accept the fact that fire can be beneficial. A generation vihich grew up on pleas from Smoky Bear, which wept as Bambi and his friends fled before a raging inferno, is bound to view wildland fire as an enemy. Actually, only small numbers of animals are killed by fire, because most escape to another part of the forest vihen fire destroys their homes. When the forest regenerates, the animals find more space for nesting. The new growth also gives them more plants of a greater variety <t>0 eat. In spite of the changing opinions about wildland fires, many Forest |