Page 30 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Second Quarter 2024

DAVID MATTOCKS
Left to right: Controlled fire among hardwoods; one year post-burn (lupine in foreground and grasses in the background); fire pink flower growing three years post-burn; and tree frog protected in a recent controlled burn.
How Native Ecosystems Benefit
from Prescribed Fires
By Brady Beck, Biologist II, and Tim McFayden, Sandhills Wildlife Forest Manager, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
Fire has a longstanding role in the history of Southeastern forest ecosystems. Decades ago, it was common for lightning strikes
to burn tens of thousands of acres before
a natural firebreak, like a river or lake, intercepted and contained the burn. Due
to years of research, trial and error, and advancements in technology, we’ve found ways to mitigate the lasting impacts and risks associated with naturally occurring fires.
Today, professional foresters and land managers use a wide variety of proven methods to apply fire to the landscape. Natural lightning ignitions, prescribed burns, land clearing, wildfires, and other methods are effectively managed to provide essential benefits to native ecosystems.
The use of prescribed fire provides multiple benefits to the landscape. Vegetation fuels along the forest floor are reduced to provide exposed mineral soil for regeneration, which can lessen the effects of wildfires. Unwanted midstory trees can be slowly removed with continued growing season burns to allow sunlight to reach the surface.
Many native grasses, forbs, and a wide variety of plants rely on fire to seed and produce flowers to benefit native wildlife and pollinators. There are diverse plant communities that provide wildlife with food, cover, soil nutrient cycling, and
water quantity and quality. Prescribed fire plays an intentional role in maintaining a native ecosystem’s health and longevity.
Wildlife Benefits Too
Common wildlife species such as deer, turkey, and quail rely on periodic fire treatments for cover to feel protected. We often don’t think that songbirds, frogs, snakes, butterflies, and insects benefit from prescribed fires, too. Even though they can be found in areas without a historic fire practice, these species thrive in a fire-abundant ecosystem.
Previously, fire practitioners, such
as landowners and managers, had been hesitant to use prescribed fire, citing fear of smoke on roads and near houses as well as fire escape lawsuits and consequences. However, North Carolina recently updated its prescribed burn law protections to
the gross negligence standard, which recognizes that the prescribed burning of forestlands is a management tool that is beneficial to North Carolina’s public safety, forest and wildlife resources, environment, and economy. With the gross negligence standard in place, certified prescribed burners have a new level of protection and must follow the requirements outlined in the NC Prescribed Burn Act.
Fire is usually the best economic and
ecological tool to help land managers create and maintain rare habitats, including open, grassy, ephemeral wetlands, healthy longleaf pine/wiregrass forests, and even hardwood savannahs. As you are venturing through North Carolina and see smoke on the horizon, just remember that a hognose snake, Bachman’s sparrow, wiregrass, bluestem, and wild turkey are saying “thank you!”
28 ncforestry.org / SECOND QUARTER 2024
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Tim McFayden
received his A.A.S. in Forest Management Technology
in 2003 from
Montgomery
Community
College. He served
in various roles with
the NC Forest Service
before coming to the NC Wildlife Resources Commission in 2014. He lives in Laurinburg, NC with his wife and three daughters.
Brady Beck received his B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife
Science in 1992
from NC State.
He has served
in various roles
with the NC
Wildlife Resources Commission since
1996. He lives in
Pinehurst, NC with his wife.