Prescribed burning techniques

Considerations for Prescribed Burning

Prescribed Mosaic Burning in California Chaparral

In fire-prone ecosystems, knowledge of previous fire history and long-term fire regimes is essential to the establishment of ecologically sound fire management. In the Californian chaparral, fire regimes are determined by the rate of fuel accumulation and previous fire history. The evolution of patch mosaics created by fire is a non-random and self-organizing process because the occurrence of f...

BOX 10.1 Prescribed Burning for Understory Restoration

Role of Prescribed Burning. Because the longleaf ecosystem evolved with and is adapted to frequent fire, every 2 to 8 years, prescribed burning is often useful for restoring understory communities to a diverse ground layer of grasses, herbs, and small shrubs. This restoration provides habitat for a number of plant and animal species that are restricted to or found mostly in longleaf pine commun...

Effects of thinning, prescribed burning, and burning season on the physiological performance of ponderosa pine

Low elevation ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex. Laws.) forests of the northern Rocky Mountains historically experienced frequent, low intensity fires that maintained open, uneven-aged stands. A century of fire suppression has led to denser ponderosa pine forests with higher competition for resources, higher tree stress, and greater risk of insect attack and stand destroying fire. Activ...

The Effects of Repeated Prescribed Burning , ~ on Pinus ponderosa Growth

The effect of repeated prescribed burning on long term growth of Pinus ponderosa in northern Arizona wasexamined. Fire treatments for hazard reduction were initiatedin 1976,and growth was evaluated in 1988 for fire rotations of 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 years. Dendroecological analysis shows that there were only small changes in treegrowth (compared tocontrols) in the first few years after the init...