Why does my neighbor burn the forest across from our house?

ASK THE HORT AGENT

Question Why does my neighbor burn the forest across from our house?

Answer If your neighbor owns the forest across from your house, then it is probably part of a forest management plan for that property. This use of fire is called prescribed burning (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FRO61). There are several reasons this management tool is sometimes used.

Fire is as natural as rain or wind. Fire creates plant and animal habitats throughout the United States. There is no question that many ecosystems would not exist in the absence of fire. Wildfires are often started by lightning strikes. Unfortunately, careless people also start fires. Prescribed burning reduces the amount of “fuel” (burnable substances like wood, straw or leaves) in the forest. When the fuel load is low, then the prescribed fires cause little damage to the desirable trees. Forest fires burning in heavy fuel loads can cause extensive damage to existing trees, and are also harder to control.

In 1871, a Wisconsin forest fire consumed 1.2 million acres and killed 1,182 people. A fire in 1910 burned 3 million acres in Montana, Idaho and Washington. Since that time great strides in fire fighting technology have been made.

In 1988, over 1.5 million acres of land was burned by wildfires in Alaska. We learned that despite fire fighting technology, forests with heavy fuel loads will produce destructive fires.

Large wildfires can be prevented more easily on the smaller tracts of land found up and down the eastern seaboard. However, North Carolina’s increasing population is resulting in development directly in or adjacent to fire prone forestlands (known as woodland-urban interface areas). From January to November of 2006, 184 wildfires covering 1,650 acres have been suppressed in Harnett County alone. The use of prescribed burning in these woodland-urban interface areas has substantially reduced the damage caused by wildfires.

Prescribed burning also improves forage quality and quantity for wildlife, controls some pest problems, reduces understory competition and increases visibility within a stand of timber.

Prescribed fire is only one of many tools used to manage timber. The use of fire can be complex. Only a “certified burner” should be allowed to implement this tool. Proper diagnosis and planning is mandatory before every burn.

The North Carolina Forest Service also conducts site preparation and hazard reduction burns for private landowners across North Carolina. For more info about fire management, visit http://www.dfr.state.nc.us/index.htm If you do not have access to the internet, then call the Extension Office at 893-7533 or email me at gpierce@harnett.org

If your neighbor doesn’t own the forest across from your house, then he is probably kin to Gen. Sherman and his actions are called arson. In that case, you need to call the sheriff’s department.

Gary L. Pierce

Horticulture Extension Agent