Burning for nature: The benefits of prescribed fire

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Sunday, September 23, 2007

Burning for nature: The benefits of prescribed fire

Controlled blazes help protect forests by preventing extreme outbreaks, preserving ecological balance

By Gabe Chapin and Nadia Steinzor

Few events speak to the power of nature more strongly than the leaping flames and smoky heat of wildfire. Fire leaves dramatic changes in its wake — singed trees and vegetation, wildlife on the move and damaged property. Such scenes have become increasingly familiar nationwide (especially in the arid West), with both the number of wildfire incidents and acres burned creeping steadily upwards in recent years.

Often obscured by grave concern over the destructive nature of fire are the many subtle yet vital social and ecological benefits fire sparks. Natural environments worldwide need fire to thrive and maintain the ecological balance that keeps extreme, and potentially dangerous, wildfires in check. In New York, the Albany Pine Bush, the Long Island Pine Barrens and the Shawangunk Ridge are examples of unique natural systems that have evolved from a complex interplay of natural processes, including periodic fire.

In the Northern Shawangunks, large fires of up to several thousand acres were common until the early 1960s. These events played an essential role in maintaining the extent and health of the area's rare pitch pine barrens and chestnut oak forests. Tree species there rely on fires to reproduce: pitch pine cones remain “glued” shut with resin until fire opens and releases seeds. At the same time, fire recycles nutrients bound up in natural debris on the forest floor, transforming thin and poor Shawangunk soils into rich, nourishing repositories for seeds.

Fire also creates openings in the forest canopy that give oak seedlings the space they need to grow. In the absence of fire, hardwoods such as red maple (which can grow in the shade of taller trees) gradually take over pitch pine and oak forests. The ultimate result is a loss of habitat for many of the rare plant and animal species found in the Shawangunks, such as peregrine falcons, timber rattlesnakes and pink lady's slippers.

Lessons for Smokey

The nation's long enchantment with Smokey the Bear, who asked everyone to help prevent fires at every opportunity, reflected the widespread use of fire suppression as a forest management strategy. The unintended consequences of this approach are now clear. In addition to exacting high ecological costs for many natural systems, fire suppression has resulted in a significant accumulation of fuel (in the form of leaves, twigs, shrubs and small trees) on the forest floor — in turn providing the basis for severe, high-intensity events whenever fires do occur. With more fuel to burn, such fires are difficult to control and threaten homes and property adjacent to wild land areas.

The complete absence of fireand the potential for sudden, large-scale fires are equally alarming. Ironically, natural systems in the Shawangunks could now be threatened by large-scale wildfires brought about by decades of fire suppression, rather than flourishing because of the very natural force that sustained them for thousands of years.

Complete loss of these important forest types and the species they support from either the absence of fire or unnaturally severe fire would have devastating effects on the region's ecology. Fortunately, even Smokey has learned a lesson, and now tells us “prescribed fire is good fire” that has an important natural role in protecting both the environment and our communities.

Prescription by partnership

As with all things in a healthy environment, maintaining balance is a critical element of fire management. The Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership, a science-based, public/private consortium of 10 organizations and agencies dedicated to the long-term protection of the Shawangunks, has developed a fire management program focusing both on planning for wildfire suppression to minimize the threat of severe wildfire and conducting “prescribed burns,” an ecological remedy that reduces forest fuel loads and fosters the natural processes forests need to regenerate and stay healthy.

Prescribed burns take the specific conditions of an area into account, are intentionally ignited under predetermined weather conditions and then carefully controlled so they do not burn as intensely as most wildfires. To date, the Partnership has successfully conducted nine prescribed burns at the Mohonk Preserve, and additional burns are planned for this fall (conditions permitting). The Partnership hopes to expand this program to other parts of the Ridge that need and benefit from fire.

Over time, so many changes have taken place in our environment that even essential processes like fire aren't part of the “natural course of things” anymore.

As the human population grows and development pushes into wilderness areas, homes and towns are increasingly in the path of wildfires, making it necessary to control them. In many places, climate change is causing prolonged drought, higher spring and summer temperatures, and more rapid snow melt patterns that are behind the ever-intensifying, ever-expanding wildfires of recent years in the West and other regions.

In the face of these ecological and social challenges, we can still assist Mother Nature in doing what's right for the Shawangunks. By using fire carefully as a land management tool, we can reduce the risk of dangerous wildfires, improve forest health, preserve habitat for wildlife and ensure our unique ecological legacy for generations to come.

Gabe Chapin is a fire ecologist for the Nature Conservancy. Nadia Steinzor is communications Director for Mohonk Preserve.

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For more information

To learn more about prescribed burning and why fire management is important in the Shawangunks, visit the Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership fire management Web site at www.gunksfireplan.org

[RescueKujo 130]

this would work wonderfully, but the tree hugging enviromentalists here in the west who don't understand the natural evolution of the forest and/or scrub oak here squash both Cal-Fire and the USFS attempts at prescribed burns. Who knows, with the natural fire breaks that these type of burns cause, maybe here in California we wouldn't have the 200,000 acre fires that we do.

Edited September 23, 2007 by RescueKujo

[Guest partyrock]

Kujo, the tree huggers actually fight against the burns?! Thats a shock. From what I had heard agencies on all sides are for the burns. Everyone benefits from them. The risks are significant but far less severe than the alternative.

[x129K 1,393]

I would love to do this to a property I hunt - it is VERY thick and over grown - the good trees are choked out by crap trees....

Perhaps I can arrange a mutual aid wildland fire drill