Prescribed Fire-  Restoring the Landscape.

AMERICAN FORESTS: A History of Resiliency and Recovery (MacCleery 1992)
describes wildfire history in the United States, and the growth and
development of cooperative federal and state fire suppression programs. The
perception that America was once dominated by impenetrable forests in
static balance with the environment is myth. Pre-settlement forests were
exceedingly dynamic, shaped by myriad natural and human influences,
disturbances, and catastrophic events that had a profound effect on the age
and species mix for plants and animals. Forests throughout the nation were
strongly influenced by native peoples. Large areas were routinely cleared
for crops. Thousands of additional acres around villages were burned
periodically to improve game habitat, facilitate travel, reduce insect
pests, remove cover for potential enemies, and enhance native food
production. In the early 1600s elk and bison, grazing animals normally
associated with western prairie areas, were commonly seen along the Potomac
River in Virginia and Maryland. Their presence indicates abundant
availability of grasses and forbs as an effect of fire. The western fringe
of the fire-dominated eastern forests, such as oak and pine savannas,
covered tens of millions of acres, forests heavily influenced by fires off
the prairies. When fire was excluded from these prairie areas, dense
forests and woodlots resulted.

North American forests have been occupied and influenced by humans from the
time these forests advanced north behind the retreating continental
glaciers 8,000 years ago. Fire, natural and human-caused, has contributed
to the growth and development of forest ecosystems in the United States,
and will continue to do so.

In the first two decades of this century, wildfire ran essentially
unchecked through America's forests. Before 1930, 20 to 50 million acres
commonly burned each year, and few forest areas were effectively protected.
Wildfires during the 1930s burned 40 to 50 million acres of land each year,
and made the need for fire control a national priority. By 1960, the area
burned had been reduced to between 2 and 5 million acres annually, a
reduction due to cooperative federal, state, and local fire prevention,
suppression, and public educational efforts.

Fire is a natural component in many wildland and managed ecosystems. The
destructive or beneficial effects of fire depend upon the nature of the
fire and the resultant damage. Timber, wildlife, range, aesthetic, and
recreation resources all too often are damaged due to wildfires. Following
intense burning, soils and watersheds can suffer immediate and long-term
damage. Buildings, historical features, and other improvements also may be
damaged or destroyed. Dwellings in forest and rangelands can, at times,
become part of the fuel contributing directly and/or indirectly to the
difficulty and cost of controlling the event. As an unfortunate consequence
to uncontrolled fire, the economy of communities can be disrupted.

Fire, in reasonable balance with nature, can benefit ecosystems in many
different ways. For example, dead plant material in some temperate and
boreal ecosystems quickly accumulates despite the natural rate of
decomposition. Fire is able to restore the balance in these systems by
releasing important nutrients for vegetative growth; however, the excessive
use of fire for numerous purposes worldwide may be negating the beneficial
role of fire within the environment.

Natural or prescribed fire can reverse, advance, or maintain a stage of
ecological succession by preparing seedbeds, triggering seed germination,
inducing resprouting, and reducing or eliminating competition for moisture,
nutrients, space, and sunlight. Similar, but more limited effects can
result with the use of fire in the forest understory or brush and grass
ecosystems. Certain types of wildlife species will be favored, or adversely
affected, depending upon their ability to adapt to a fire's intensity and
effects. Ensuing mosaics of age classes and types generally provide a
suitable environment for a diversity of plant and animal life. Fire can
also be an effective regulator of some insect and disease outbreaks by
limiting the abundance and distribution of susceptible forest types and age
classes, thus contributing to the overall health and productivity of a
forested ecosystem.

Historically, fire was used to clearforests and remove brush, and was
often associated with a variety of unplanned and often destructive land
uses. Consequently, fire management entailed the suppression of all fires
to protect the real and perceived threat to forests, watersheds,
rangelands, people, and property. In a few parts of the country, prescribed
burning of unwanted undergrowth and burning for plantation cultivation
became an accepted practice. Despite these applications, it was not until
the 1950s that forest managers began to recognize the positive aspects of
fire use. Land use objectives then became the basis for decisions
concerning the use of fire.

Managers are now involved with the planned suppression of and/or the
planned use of fire to accomplish a variety of land management objectives.
The long-term goal of fire management is to minimize the destructive
elements of fire while maximizing the benefits. Fire managers have three
basic tools: suppression; prescribed burning, with preparatory vegetative
manipulation; and managed natural fire, though it could be argued that this
is a subset of prescribed fire.

Prescribed burning is the preplanned and controlled application of fire to
fuels in either a natural or modified state under prescribed conditions of
weather, fuel moisture, soil moisture, etc. The prescription establishes
the conditions needed to confine the fire to a predetermined area, and more
importantly, to create heat intensity to achieve the desired burning
objectives. Objectives could vary from a "cool" burn, to reduce fuels under
a young sapling stand, to a "hot" burn, as in a replacement fire in a
diseased, overmature stand.

Foresters use fire to perform three basic functions: consume dead organic
matter, alter living vegetation, and produce a desired ecological effect.
The three are not mutually exclusive. Burning dead material inevitably
affects the vegetation; the ecological function is, to some extent, a
synthesis of the first two. (SAF 1984). Typical management objectives
achieved through prescribed burning include:

  1. Fuels reduction and site preparation for natural or artificial
     regeneration.
  2. Reducing natural fuels to lessen the potential intensity and
     resistance to control of wildfires.
  3. Maintaining and developing habitat for certain wildlife species.
  4. Controlling certain insects and diseases.
  5. Maintaining grasses and forbs for grazing.
  6. Maintaining ecosystems, including those in wilderness and natural
     areas.
  7. Removing or modifying understory vegetation.
  8. Removing flammable material adjacent to railroads and other high
     hazard areas.

Planning is essential for safe, well-executed, effective prescribed burns.
Prescriptions should be based on local data using professional experience
and the latest fire behavior and smoke management technology. Prescribed
burns should be planned, directed, and conducted by qualified and
experienced professionals.

Artificially ignited (planned ignition) prescribed fires, in contrast to
managed natural fire, can be used in wilderness and natural areas to
simulate natural processes, especially in areas of heavy fuel buildup. This
is likely to be a more cost effective and predictable method of vegetative
modification. A policy allowing only managed natural fires increases the
risk of a catastrophic fire and reduces the opportunity for appropriate
smoke management techniques. Planned ignitions should be a tool used by
managers when it is cost effective and will achieve the appropriate
management objectives.

Adherence to air quality regulations will be a major challenge to the
execution of an appropriate prescribed fire program. Effective smoke
management can minimize the impact of the emissions. In sensitive air
basins and high population areas, the need for prescribed fire to protect
the public can conflict with a strict application of air quality
regulations. The question in such situations is how much air quality
degradation will be allowed from a prescribed fire utilized to avoid the
concentration of smoke that will result from a wildfire. Clean air
regulations, accompanied by manageable restrictions, should permit
prescribed burning.

Vegetative management and fuels treatment can also be accomplished by
manual, mechanical, chemical, and biological methods, alone or in
combinations with prescribed burning. Each has distinctive advantages and
disadvantages, especially in terms of cost and risk. When economically
possible and ecologically desirable, increased utilization of forest
residuals, as a forest product, is the preferred method to reduce hazards,
improve forest health, and provide products and services to society.
Mechanical methods deserve further evaluation and support.

Numerous wilderness and other natural areas are set aside to permit
ecological processes to take place naturally. Because fires started by
lightning, and in rare cases by volcanic activity, are a natural event in
these such areas, they are often allowed to burn when damage probability or
an escape from predetermined prescribed conditions (and area of burn) is
unlikely. Sometimes a limited amount of suppression resources may be
required to keep managed natural fires within the prescription area.
Prescriptions unique to each wilderness or natural area need to be
developed in order to address suppression procedures. Planning and
continued research will enhance the accuracy of wilderness and natural area
prescriptions and resource integrity.

The long-term nature of natural fires increases the difficulty of preparing
an accurate prediction of the ultimate size and intensity of such fires. A
fire started by lightning in June in the Northwestern States can be
expected to continue to burn at some level or intensity until fall. Smoke
from even a low intensity fire will continue to drift into valleys
throughout the summer. Severe wind events are a normal part of the western
weather pattern; as a result, major fires can arise from the combination of
a natural lightning fire and wind event. When this occurs, the expense of
suppression is extremely high.

When fires are suppressed in wilderness or natural areas, care should be
taken to minimize damage to their unique values while at the same time
accomplishing fire control objectives as efficiently as possible. Some
suppression activities leave scars on the landscape that take longer to
heal than the directs effects of fire. Yet, at times, mechanized equipment
may be necessary to control a fire. Fire management plans for wilderness
and other natural areas should state when, where, and under what conditions
different types of mechanized equipment may be utilized.

Fire line construction, construction of helicopter landing areas, and other
support features can also have a long-term, adverse impact on the
resources. Minimizing the effect and mitigation following the fire are
important and necessary parts of the suppression action. Fire plans for
wilderness and other natural areas should identify where and under what
condition different methods of fire line construction should be used.
Protection of archeological or other significant features may require
special suppression techniques; therefore, a resource advisor is an
appropriate and normal fire staff position to have on major fires.