TPO 20

The lecture and the listening section discuss the "let it burn policy" in the United States that allows fire burning until it finishes by itself. Although the reading provides three theories against the let it burn policy, the speaker refutes these ideas through several reasons, which I will describe.

First, the passage points out that after the forest fire most of Yellowstone's vegetation and trees had been scorched. The lecturer, in contrast, rejects this by claiming that the plant diversity was increasing after the fire. Because small plants that exist under the shadow of tall trees found the opportunities to grow. Furthermore, some seeds need high temperature for starting to growing. And these plants also find growth opportunities.

Furthermore, the reading passage states that many large animals had been fled, and small animals stock on the fire, so the diversity of animals had been decreased. However, the professor argues that by burning the tall trees, their trunks became the new home for small animals such as rabbits, and it makes new opportunities for them. Also, the small animals were the food source for bigger animals like the wolf. So, the large animals had been coming back to Yellowstone for finding food and started to live.

Finally, although the reading passage says that "let it burn" may destroy the tourism economy, the speaker disagrees by mentioning that the tourism economy may suffer if forest fires happen every day. She said that for having a fire like the one that happened in 1988, a combination of different issues is required to happen at the same time. For instance, lack of rain for some month and raise in temperature. Therefore, as fires do not happen regularly in the forest, there will not be any economic problem.