MR. PRINCIPAL:
Following the letter from Fernanda Salinas on Saturday, who makes an extensive description of the relationship between fire and vegetation in Mediterranean climates, it is necessary to be very emphatic in pointing out that it is not the same thing that a species has evolved to benefit from fire of natural origin for its dispersal or propagation, to the fact that a species has evolved to favor the spread of fires, as the author seems to want to indicate in her letter.
There is no such thing in nature as species that immolate themselves, developing attributes to burn. This argument only seeks to transfer to the tree the blame for being burned by a fire that in Chile is of human origin. There is no doubt that it is the responsibility of the planter to incorporate preventive forestry into his forest management, but it is another thing to transfer the blame for an act carried out by third parties. Do not confuse people.
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Julio Torres
Forest EngineerProfessor FCFCN, University of Chile
