"Fires Hinder the Almighty's Plans"

"We have said it before, but we say it again: When foolish man lets land become impoverished and infertile, the Almighty Himself comes in and tries to rebuild it. He tries to restore the fertility man has robbed it of...
But do we cooperate with him? Not at all. At least not most of us. Most of us burn off grass and broomsedge. Many of us are unconcerned when fires kill young deciduous trees and stunt the growth of all pines they touch. We burn up countless thousands of dollars worth of nitrogen and humus in the form of broomsedge, dry grass, pine straw, and forest leaves, and thereby invite three disasters: (1) Deprived of the humus-cover the Almighty has developed, the land starts washing again. (2) Deprived of the nitrogen which goes up in smoke, the soil becomes as poor as it was when the Almighty's own process of soil-restoration began. (3) We are forced to be high priced commercial nitrogen to take the place of that we have let burn up.
'The Land is mine', said Jehovah of old. And still when foolish man impoverishes it, He seeks its restoration. Shall we cooperate with Him or hinder Him? Every fire that sweeps over our fields or forests this spring constitutes our answer to this question." Progressive Farmer, Birmingham, Alabama

(From "The Voice of the Press on Forest Fires", U.S.D.A. Forest Service, 1940?)