Where are you talking about? That isn't true on the plains of North America. The plain was very treeless, save next to water, where there are plenty of trees. Man has created far more barriers - roads, wind breaks around farms, etc. East of the 100th meridian, most land is divided in a perfect grid with roads along section lines in both the US and Canada. Further west, the lines may be further apart, but there still are plenty of roads compared to pre-1860s when there were none.
Roads don't do much to stop wind. I've never seen many man-made wind breaks which weren't directly related to stopping snow drifts in specific areas.
Embers travel over roads remarkably well.
Going back to what OP said:
> In earlier times, farm fields actually were separated by bushes, patches of rocks, tiny rivers, whatever.
My point is that the modern prairie is far more divided than it was 200 years ago. And groves of trees are not just for snow drifts. They provide much protection from wind. To protect from snow drifts, you typically build a very distinct looking snow fence which allows you to control where the drift forms (e.g., not on a road).
If you look at pictures of homesteads of South Dakota in the 1880s, there are virtually no trees anywhere, including around farms. There are far more today. Hence why I am asking where the OP is talking about.
Re:Let Forest Fires Burn
by Gustomaximus on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @12:02AM
(#14954108)
The context is about stopping fires. And roads do serve this purpose well. In Australia we cut roads through bushland for this purpose.
Re:Let Forest Fires Burn
by maxerickson on Monday August 07, 2017 @07:29PM
(#14952160)
Even when there are no obstructions, there are regular jogs in the PLSS (because a grid doesn't lie flat on a spheroid):
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.5653133,-95.6495983,2380m/da...
what i see in rural alberta still looks like most farm fields (i.e. each quarter section) are separated by a line of trees, bushes, or at the very least roads or irrigation ditches. windbreaks are no less important to agriculture now than they were 100 years ago.
In earlier times, farm fields actually were separated by bushes, patches of rocks, tiny rivers, whatever. Humans have flattened all of this, in order to make really huge strips of farmland that can be worked on really, really efficiently by machines. Not only has this practice destroyed the living space of small animals like rabbits or birds, but it also contributes massively to this problem as there's nothing left to stop or slow down winds :(