Fires in Greece
Jane McGary (Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:50:25 PDT)

The many forum members who live in western North America are watching the
news of Greece's forest and brush fires with empathy, since scenes of this
kind are unhappily familiar to us. The loss of life and property is very
sad, but at least there is a good chance that the natural environment will
recover quickly. Last fall I visited an area in the Peloponnese that had
burned very hot just a few months earlier. The bare red earth was liberally
dotted with magnificently flowering bulbs, including Cyclamen graecum, a
Biarum, and Arisarum vulgare. Many trees appeared to be alive, though
charred at the base, and many shrubs were resprouting from underground.
Even ferns were reappearing in the crevices of the rocks.

If the Greek government manages to prevent developers from seizing on the
burned areas on the pretext that they are no longer forested, and thus open
for building, the landscape should recover, though with some erosion if
heavy rains follow. It is to be hoped that the state will also help the
rural people repair their homes, which, fortunately, are mostly masonry
with tile roofs and may be salvageable.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA