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Show Last Year's Fires; This Year's Erosion To survive in our mountainous state we must have soil and vegetation holding and supporting support-ing each other on the mountain slopes. Without them we would lose our struggle against the elements of the desert. Yesterday I saw strings of small gullies leading off a thawed hillside, and ending in a snow drift at the base of the hill. Melting snow had run off the slope cutting these gullies and carrying soil down to smear the snow bank with ugly mud. I climbed the hill to learn why this particular section of the slope had let its valuable top soil wash away while other parts of the hill had no signs of erosion. ero-sion. The answer was easy to find. A fire had burned over the damaged section last fall destroying de-stroying the weeds, grass and shrubs that had held the soil in place. With no vegetation to steady and absorb the melting snow this spring It ran wildly down the slope taking loose soil with it. Rich ;oll that had taken thousands of years to accumulate on the hillside is gone and a gully pattern is cut open to In-vite In-vite further flooding. Neither you nor I will live to see the lost soil replaced but we can help to prevent fires from exposing' the soil to more erosion. |