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I don't think that's automatically a strange question.   It is something we should be thinking about .. society-wise, not just bigfooters.      I think the best answer is "it depends."      There are some really bad assumptions built into the question, assumptions that should be examined.   First thing .. what we consider "normal" is not historical normal.    (1) Transpiration creates a downwind moisture plume which allows forest to grow in places it naturally could not.   Fire destroys not just what it burns, but the downwind moisture plume which "artificially" supports forest in places that would naturally be desert if there were no forest upwind to provide the atmospheric moisture.  (2) We have 100 years and more of fire fighting / fire prevention which has altered the natural landscape.   Though it is familiar to us, it is not the long term norm and it is not "natural."     Complicating things further, the Native Americans / First Nations people deliberately altered the environment / landscape with large scale fire.    Because they seem to have arrived before deglaciation, there probably has not been a "natural" environment, one not altered by human activity, since before the last glacial maximum.   Data suggest we are in a period of rapid climate change.    Second thing .. forest regrowth is though a progression of stages.   Once forest is lost, we get grasslands / brush, smaller trees, etc before big trees return.   This can take centuries, not decades, not years, and given changing climate conditions, I'm not sure we will have periods between fires long enough for the cycle to complete, we seem to be looking at forest -> burn -> brush -> burn -> brush -> burn -> brush .. etc.   We .. in my area .. are getting much more frequent dry lighting and large fires than we have ever had in recorded history.   The opportunities for mature forest to re-form under these conditions seem nil.    In fact it seems the only chance of restoration is via human intervention, not via natural processes.    This situation seems likely to last for centuries, maybe tens of centuries, and the new equilibrium, if there is one, won't be the one we're used to.   I suspect much of North America, if humans just vanished, would turn into a land of brush and grasses with very little "reclamation" by forest as we know it because of the increased rate of lightning fires driven by global warming.   Once turned to brush and grasses, it is very difficult to return to forest because conditions don't last enough years in a row for that to happen.   IMHO of course!    MIB  

Strange Q:   I know all fires are not created equally, some wildfires can be seen as nature's way to do what nature does in a life death cycle.   If an area is hit by devastating wildfires How Long does it take to rejuvenate the area where it mostly returns to 'normal'   I realize the PGF area was wiped out by a flood a couple years before.  Then we had the PGF.  Then, 50 years later it's hard to find the spot.   How long will it take for these areas to recover esp if mankind left it alone to grow back in its own?        

Thank you!  

Take care / stay safe!!

We are on the Kaiser Canyon Fire. Doing reclaim. We came across the Keller Ferry. Staging at Keller Wa.