Letters to the Editor: Don’t mourn the Rim fire — learn from it
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To the editor: Reporter Corinne Purtill’s article on the 2013 Rim fire (“Lessons from Yosemite, a decade after the Rim fire,” April 17) romanticizes a misleading narrative that high-intensity wildfires “destroy” forests. This erases the regenerative power of fire-adapted ecosystems. I’ve been to the area multiple times since the fire and what I’ve seen is powerful. The places that weren’t logged or sprayed are thriving, with native plants and natural regeneration everywhere.
Far from being lifeless, the areas affected by the 2013 Rim fire now support a rich array of species, from woodpeckers to rare flowers. The real threat is logging disguised as “restoration,” which, per studies, emits 10 times more carbon per acre than wildfire or native bark beetles.
The Rim fire didn’t ruin Yosemite. It offered a lesson.
Jennifer Mamola, Washington, D.C.
