Comment by seadan83

Yes! Necessary for a number of trees to reproduce. Morelle mushrooms are another example, their spores are fire activated. Look fo them in burn areas the following spring.

West coast trees evolved to drop their lower branches. They naturally won't have branches for 20 to 40 feet off the ground. They need to grow old enough to do that. Most forests have already been chopped down a few times over though in the last 150 years.