Hi Randy;  I feel your pain on the fire watch.  I lost an entire bee yard
in Bladen County NC 30 years ago to a wild fire in a long leaf pine
plantation.  It is pretty discouraging to walk into a former bee yard and
see nothing much left but nails and frame wires.  I now rake all of my bee
yards and try to keep them on the edges of the woods in case there is a
canopy fire.  Long leaf pines evolved in a fire environment and have thick
bark.  The young trees sit for several years in a 'bush' of long leaf
needles and build reserves to shoot up after 4-5 years and get above the
fires on the forest floor.  When a fire goes through a long leaf forest it
tends to be hot and fast.  This fire started from a neighbor burning debris
during a burn ban.  I tried to pursue a claim via the forest service but
got nowhere.

My wife and I took a day hike on the Appalachian Trail on the NC/TN border
Tuesday - from Indian Grave Gap to Beauty Spot if you want to look it up.
We last hiked this stretch 5-6 years ago and there had just been a
wild fire that burned the forest over part of the trail we hiked.  It is
amazing to see the forest regenerate after a fire.  The new trees were
12-15 feet tall and there was a dense understory of wild flowers.  This is
sourwood honey territory and I was pleased to see an abundance of young
sourwood trees growing in the burn over.  Fire is not all bad!

Bill Lord
Buladean, NC
36 N

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