This photo is from Photo Gallery: Wildfires
Photo: Smoke above pine trees

Idaho Fire

Photograph by Mark Thiessen

Fire can have different effects in different kinds of forests. Some species, like the lodgepole pine, use the extreme heat of large fires to release their seeds. Other species, like the ponderosa pines seen burning in this aerial shot of an Idaho fire, need frequent but more mild, low-level fires to thrive. They may not grow back after an intense blaze like this.