From: National Forum | Date: March 22, 1996| Author: Ward, Peter D. | COPYRIGHT 1996 Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

The aftermath of a forest fire is all too well known to us. Every fire season in the forest states, the evening news will show at least one charred scene of smoking hulks of once vigorous old growth. Yet soon thereafter, the first signs of recolonization appear amid the few survivors - ferns and fast-growing opportunists whose seeds quickly arrive with the wind - and these new forms and survivors combine to create a new, if often short-lived kingdom: the kingdom of weeds. So too can ...