Prescribed Fire
It is paradoxical that while so much effort is devoted to suppressing wildfires, controlled fire is used extensively in the South to manage forests. By reducing fuel loads with prescribed burning, the risk of catastrophic wildfire is reduced. The history of fire in the South during the last century, as distinct from other regions of the country, reflects the process of coming to terms with this paradox (Pyne 1997).
Prescribed burning is used to attain several objectives: (1) reducing fuel loads and the risk of wildfire (hazard reduction); (2) preparing sites for seeding or planting; (3) controlling understory vegetation in order to regenerate desirable species; (4) benefiting wildlife; (5) controlling insects and diseases; (6) enhancing appearances; (7) improving access; (8) protecting threatened and endangered species; (9) perpetuating (or restoring) fire-dependent species; and (10) improving forage for grazing (Wade and Lunsford 1989).
Prescribed burning is most common in Coastal Plain pine forests and in the Piedmont. Prescribed burning is used less in the Southern Appalachian Mountains than in other areas of the South. Fire behavior there is less predictable due to highly variable topography, and the benefits of burning in hardwoods are not well documented (Van Lear and Waldrop 1989). Interest in prescribed fire in hardwoods is increasing, however, as the need to control accumulations of explosive fuels such as mountain laurel and rhododendron becomes recognized (Van Lear and Waldrop 1989). Fire plays a role in community dynamics of several forest types in the Southern Appalachians, indicating a potential role for prescribed burning in their restoration (Brose and others 2001, Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere 1996).
See the following sections or visit the Prescribed Fire section in the Encyclopedia of Southern Fire Science.
Encyclopedia ID: p1044
