Controlled fires, or prescribed burns, refresh the environment and take away the fuel that would feed uncontrolled wildfires.
when there is a lower chance of wildfires, forest services all over the United States will conduct controlled burns, also known as prescribed burns or low-intensity burns, in which they create controlled planned fires to maintain the health of the forest and prevent future wildfires.
There are two main types of prescribed burns: One involves lighting fires across a landscape to fortify the ecosystem. The other is pile burning, which is when leaves and other debris are collected and stacked up to be burned. Both burns seek to remove and reduce hazardous fuels like low-growing vegetation that could otherwise accelerate wildfires, as well as minimize the spread of pests and insects, among other benefits.
Burning improves the overall forest health and allows for natural thinning, which helps reduce ecological competition. “So in turn, fewer trees per acre, resulting in bigger, more fire-resistant trees,” Virtue said. The ash from the fires also turns into fertilizer for the soil, thus providing nutrients for the forest.
Debris from Black Hills National Forest is piled up throughout the year until the weather conditions are safe enough to control the burn outside of Hill City, South Dakota, on February 2, 2023. “It can be taxing to go from a pretty robust busy fire season and then jumping into the prescribed fire,” Virtue said. To mitigate this, the forest service tries to “keep folks rotating out, so it’s not the same core group of people doing the same tasks, but just trying to give folks a break where possible.”to document the forest service and firefighters conducting controlled burns in the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota.
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