How a forest stopped a fire in its tracks The New York Times SUSANVILLE, Calif. -- Where the fire came through Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest last September, the ground is ash and the trees are charcoal. Black and gray are the colors, lightened only by small mounds of red dust at the base of some of the charred trunks -- the leavings of bark beetles -- and flecks of green where new growth pokes above the ash. Through the tall, ravaged columns, however, a living pine forest is visible. And as visitors inspecting the fire damage walk toward the living...