Understanding the Benefits of Prescribed Fire

There’s an unfortunate misconception about the role of forest fires, with the public fearing the natural disaster’s potential for destruction, displacement, and disruption. However, while large wildfires can certainly be dangerous, low-intensity fires are a natural and necessary part of many ecosystems. Prescribed burns are often beneficial to ecosystem maintenance and recovery.

Prescribed burning—the intentional act of applying fire to vegetation to achieve predetermined land management objectives—has been around for a millennia. Indigenous peoples intentionally lit small, controlled fires to clear land for crops, hunt game, and manage and promote species health, providing communities with clothing, ceremonial items, food, and more. It’s the healing properties of the flames that led to the “the tribal philosophy of fire as medicine,” which couldn’t be more true.

Unfortunately, recent layoffs, early retirements, and voluntary deferred resignations have critically hampered our wildland firefighting force, with “more than 4,500 Forest Service firefighting jobs—as many as 27%—vacant as of July 17.” Meanwhile, the House Natural Resources Committee recently endorsed a forest policy that approves the “suppression of wildfires within 24 hours of detection,” a reflection of the fire suppression policies of the 20th century. Though, this doesn’t include prescribed burns.

However, quelling fire isn’t the solution. Ecosystems like the chaparral habitats of the west and the longleaf pine ecosystems of the east thrive post-burn. Prescribed burns not only help wildlife, but protect your home, air quality, and the places you hike or camp, too. The practice isn’t even very expensive, costing around $200 per acre—compared to the thousands per acre in emergency wildfire suppression. What’s better? These aren’t the only benefits.

Hazardous Fuel Reduction

Although humidity and wind speed and direction are leading factors that influence how an active fire spreads, it’s the accumulation of vegetation—or fuels—that drive hotter, faster, and higher reaching fires, resulting in catastrophic wildfires that threaten landscapes, property, civilians, and firefighters. These fuel loads may include dead and live vegetation, such as trees, shrubs, grasses, and litter.

Prescribed burns help mitigate the risk of unruly fires through managing fuel loads, reducing the amount of combustible material present. This helps protect neighborhoods, water supplies, and popular recreational areas like parks and trails in the event of a fire. But it’s important that a burn boss is on-sight during a burn since these individuals are educated in prescribed fire safety and operations.

Cutting Back Pollution

Eliminating fuel loads doesn’t just prevent uncontrollable fires; it reduces the smoke produced, too. Inhaling large quantities of smoke is inherently dangerous, and can lead to asthma attacks, cardiovascular issues, and difficulty breathing, among other issues. Prescribed burning reduces that risk. A recent study unveiled that “prescribed burns can reduce the severity of subsequent wildfires,” and bring down “net smoke pollution by an average of 14%.”

Meanwhile, wildfire smoke can cause “changes to behavior and health; reduced survival, reproductive success, and growth” in wildlife, with certain species more susceptible than others. For instance, birds typically have much more efficient gas exchange when breathing  than many mammals, which can increase the concentration of pollutants their bodies absorb. 

Habitat Improvements for Threatened and Endangered Species

A post-burn landscape may not seem particularly uplifting, but in reality, positive change saturates the land. Hundreds of plants rely on forest fires to flourish, as fire triggers flowers to sprout, seed pods to unfurl, and canopies to open, allowing sunlight to reach low-lying species and nutrients to be returned to the soil by fire.

Additionally, fire can help reduce the prevalence of invasive plant species that may be crowding out native plants. Most often, these unwanted species aren’t adept at surviving a fire, so low-intensity burns help the native vegetation to grow and thrive. Fire also helps diminish the spread of pest insects and diseases, contributing to a healthy ecosystem for all.

Moving Forward

Despite these benefits, prescribed burning remains underdiscussed as mainstream conversation focuses its energy on reactionary solutions, not precautionary. But with climate change contributing to increased fire activity worldwide, it’s critical that we take measures to protect communities and ecosystems before disaster hits. 

That’s why we urgently need the funding and our firefighting force at full capacity. However, that can’t be done without your support. People hold the power to prevent catastrophe, and that starts by embracing our most valuable tools. In the case of forestry, that’s prescribed fire. Because without it, our lives are in danger. But with it? We can protect our communities and ecosystems from disasters.