To the editor: Reporter Corinne Purtill’s article on the 2013 Rim fireplace (“Lessons from Yosemite, a decade after the Rim fire,” April 17) romanticizes a deceptive narrative that high-intensity wildfires “destroy” forests. This erases the regenerative energy of fire-adapted ecosystems. I’ve been to the world a number of instances for the reason that fireplace and what I’ve seen is highly effective. The locations that weren’t logged or sprayed are thriving, with native vegetation and pure regeneration in all places.
Removed from being lifeless, the areas affected by the 2013 Rim fireplace now help a wealthy array of species, from woodpeckers to uncommon flowers. The true risk is logging disguised as “restoration,” which, per studies, emits 10 instances extra carbon per acre than wildfire or native bark beetles.
The Rim fireplace didn’t spoil Yosemite. It supplied a lesson.
Jennifer Mamola, Washington, D.C.
