Uses of Prescribed Fire

Prescribed fire is applied to roughly 8 million acres in the South each year for various forest, range and agricultural purposes (USDA Forest Service 1989). More than half of this total annual occurs on pine-type forests (~4.1 million acres/year). More than 90% of this annual burning activity on pine-type forests occurs in the southern Coastal Plain states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi (Haines et al. 2001). The following sections discuss the most common uses of prescribed burning in the South.

• Silvicultural objectives
• Hazardous fuel reduction
• Ecological restoration and maintenance
• Perpetuating fire-dependent species
• Controlling insects and disease
• Improving wildlife habitat
• Improving forage for grazing
• Enhancing appearance
• Improving access