embryophagous t1_j5ucci2 wrote
What has your research revealed in terms of the differences between natural fire regimes and modern prescribed fire regimes? Are fire practitioners burning enough and at the right time of year?
Prof_Fire OP t1_j5udxec wrote
This question depends on where you look, but in many places, we aren’t yet getting enough fire on the ground! For example, fire history studies in longleaf pine across the Southeast are showing that fires occurred every 1-4 years. Although prescribed burn practitioners are burning at that frequency in some places, many other areas remain unburned, some for decades or longer! The fire scar information is generally telling us we need to grow our prescribed fire programs!
The seasonality piece is a hard one to answer. In some places, we see in the fire-scar record a lot of dormant season fires that were ignited by people. However, in other locations, we see a strong record of lightning fire. These fires tended to happen in early spring and summer. I generally think prescribed burn practitioners should aim to increase their growing season burning. However, I do understand that managers face many challenges to doing so and it’s definitely key that we get frequent fire on the ground, even if that means burning at times of year that are inconsistent with the lightning fire regime. So in short - more growing season fire but also keep up with the other burns!
amirghajari t1_j5ufo8z wrote
There are many adverse health/climatic effects from prescribed burnings, isn't there any other way to do what fire does to the forests, without actually having to burn them?
Prof_Fire OP t1_j5umtqg wrote
Prescribed burning is extremely beneficial and there is no perfect replacement. The ecosystems we burn with prescribed fire evolved with fire and require frequent fire to maintain healthy conditions. Additionally, the prescribed fires can actually help protect people! First, the prescribed fires reduce fuels (living and dead plants) and decrease the likelihood of a much more dangerous, unplanned wildfire. Second, less smoke is produced by a prescribed fire than a wildfire and this smoke can be managed through strategic burning to minimize smoke to sensitive areas like surrounding communities. Alternatives to burning (like mowing down vegetation or using herbivores) can be beneficial in certain areas where prescribed fires aren’t feasible, but they do not perform the exact same roles as fire performs on the landscape.
rotorwashedup t1_j5umlcs wrote
There’s nothing that works on an ecosystem scale like wildfire. And that’s a very anthropocentric question… people move into a landscape that has depended on periodic burning for millennia, and then people ask why there has to be periodic smoke in the local community
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