Burning the Slash

Just after I left the Shinglemill Marina I could smell smoke, wood smoke. I look all around, but didn't see anything unusual. Then a few more klicks up Powell Lake I could see clouds in the distance. One cloud layer had a pinkish-brown cast. There was the smoke I was smelling. The last several days it had been raining, so I knew what it was -- the logging company was burning a slash.

A year and a half ago they logged a hilly section behind our friend Peter's cabin on Henderson Bay. Once the salable logs were removed and floated down the lake, the limbs and small logs littering the ground were heaped into huge piles. There they've sat to dry and cure. Now that fall has arrived and the danger of forest fires has passed, the piles can be burned. Burning excess forest fuels helps clear the ground for new plants to grow. It also reduces excess amounts of forest debris that might fuel forest fires during dry, warm summer months.

It is still a little unnerving to see unattended piles of trees and brush burning in the bush. If you didn't know better, you might think it was a forest from a distance. I continued to see the smoke from the cabin for two days.

Then the rains came again, extinguishing the smoldering remains. -- Margy