Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 5 of 9 · from the scan, no model involved
are scattered among the boulders—evidence of extensive fires. Some of the burning was accidental, as an escaped fire started by Confederates,during the Civil War. Repeated intentional burning, for pasture and even for blueberry habitat improvement, has had considerable impact. Given time, most sites will revert to a forested condition, and will at least partially recover from catastrophes as fire and logging. Why then are the sods still relatively open?
The answer is not simple. Undoubtedly, a number of ecological factors are responsible: beaver activity, for example, and the intrinsic persistence of certain lowgrowing plant species. Some of the sods are still lightly grazed.
But the greatest factor affecting such long-lasting openness on such vast areas has been fire. The organic soil, once ignited, smoldered persistently. Gound fires sometimes burned to depths reaching bedrock, and expanses reaching tens of thousands of acres. On this parched soil, the native flora have been slow to recover. Many of the accompanying fauna will never return.
91.7%