The Burning Season
29 November 2004
On the road between Sayulita and Punta Mita
Originally uploaded by Ed Fladung
At this time of year – with a long dry season looming – many small landowners choose to incinerate some of the lush foliage that has wildly accumulated during the rainy months. It it slashed away, gathered up and burned. “As I float on my [surf]board,” writes Ed Fladung in his blog, “…and look back at the shore and the town behind it, I can see hundreds of small plumes of smoke drifting up above Sayulita, as if the entire town and surrounding hills are on fire.”
Historically, the use of fire has been the tool of choice for reshaping the landscape in the tropics. By March and April, towards the end of the dry season, the combination of carelessness and dry tinderbox scrubland can result in localised burning escaping into forested areas causing wildfires and thick palls of smoke. Human activities cause 97 per cent of these wildfires.
Filed in: Mexican Life & Society, Michoacán & Western Mexico
