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Welcome
to Point of Interest Road
Signs! A
collection of photos of road and trail signs. Click
here for more Wyoming Signs
Yellowstone
National Park - Scorched Earth Road Sign
Location
of sign - Yellowstone National Park between Mammoth and Tower Falls.
Photo
taken June 2008
Text
of sign:
Scorched
Earth
Fierce
crown fires swept through this forest in 1988, charring trees from
base to tip. Ground vegetation was reduced to ash - yet
less
than one tenth of one percent of the soil was heated to the point
where all seeds and roots were killed. Insulated beneath the
top
inch of scorched ground lie plant bulbs, seeds, and grass roots of
new forest and meadows that sprouted the following spring.
Ghosts
of plants and tree trunks mark the isolated spots where fire
sterilized the soil. Regeneration may take longer
there.
Eventually,
wind and animals will carry seeds to the dead ground, and the ghost
patches will disappear in the surrounding green.
Low
intensity fire burns only the surface material.
Moderate
intensity fire turns surface material to ash, and blackens the top
4-5 centimeters of soil.
High
intensity fire (rare) leaves red, oxidized soil near the surface,
and darkens more than 10 centimeters of soil below, killing
most
roots and seeds.
Graphics
on the sign
In addition
to the text there is a photo of a burnt forested area (a ghost patch of
fire-sterilized soil) and a 3-d picture of how fire
affects
the ground underneath.
Please help us
out by submitting
a photo!
You
can find more information about the state of Wyoming here.
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