You can feel this energy every time you light a fire. If you ever get a chance to light a brush pile created by clearing brush or trees from the land, you will get a first hand appreciation of the quantity of energy contained in the wood and leaves of the plants removed from that particular patch of earth. As an ecologist, I agree that the clearing of brush/trees from certain areas will improve the health and biodiversity of the greater ecosystem, but the status-quo of bulldoze and burn should be stopped in most instances.

When you burn a brush-pile the size of a truck, the energy held within the carbon bonds is released in the form of heat. This heat is so intense that you cannot stand close to the pile without getting burned. The smoke (carbon) can be seen for miles as all this energy is carried away from the place where it was captured. Years worth of solar energy (and carbon sequestration) have just been released in a matter of hours. Like a lightning bolt hitting the earth, a tremendous amount of energy is released so quickly that it is difficult to capture any of this energy.

The first law of thermodynamics says that energy cannot be created nor destroyed (Law of Conservation of Energy), therefore the energy that you feel as heat will remain in the wood if it is not burned. When this energy is released over the next fifty years rather than the next fifty hours, it is released at a rate that organisms that depend on this “energy” can utilize. Numerous animals, plants, fungus, and bacteria can utilize this stored solar energy as the brush-pile is slowly converted into soil which stays on the land for decades to com.

The brush-piles provide habitat for animals, protect young plants from herbivores, and act as a seed source for native grasses. If large brush piles will not work with the planned future land use, you can still hold onto the stored energy by grinding the piles into mulch and spreading the pile across the landscape. Like mulch used in gardens, this mulch provides countless benefits to the land that a pile of ashes just cannot do. Mulch provides the underlying soil protection from the elements, protection from erosion, protection against drying out, increased groundwater recharge, a fresh source of carbon, and protection from compaction.

Sorry to go on for so long, but this is a passion of mine and I would like to see the Hill Country (and the rest of the planet) better utilize its natural resources for long term ecological and financial prosperity rather than the short sighted, ill-informed, put money in my pocket today attitudes that are lowering the quality of life for our future generations. If you have any additional suggestions, I would love to hear them. Thank you for your time and attention. 210-218-7915