Using Prescribed Fire to Improve Wildlife Habitat
Prescribed fire is used to improve habitat for certain wildlife species. Wildlife benefits from burning are substantial:
- fruit and seed production is stimulated,
- yield and quality increases occur in herbage, legumes, and browse from hardwood sprouts, and
- openings are created for feeding, travel, and dusting.
However, fire may also degrade habitat for other species. Each of the hundreds of wildlife species in the South responds differently to fire, depending upon the frequency, intensity, severity, and season of burning, as well as the particular species habitat requirements. To effectively use prescribed fire to benefit wildlife requires an understanding of the habitat requirements of each species. For a general background on the direct and indirect effects of fire on wildlife, see: Fire Effects on Fauna. The following links provide information on how fire affects particular wildlife species:
Prescribed burning is highly recommended for wildlife habitat management in pine stands. Periodic fire tends to favor understory species that require a more open habitat. A mosaic of burned and unburned areas tends to maximize edge effect which promotes a large and varied wildlife population.
Deer, dove, quail, and turkey are game species that benefit from prescribed fire. Some general guidelines for burning to enhance habitat for these game species are shown in Table:Guidelines for using prescribed fire to improving wildlife habitat. Prescribed burns to improve wildlife habitat in existing pine stands are normally conducted in the winter (Mobley and others 1978) to avoid the spring nesting season. Periodic burns at about 2- to 4-year intervals favor deer and turkey. On the lower Coastal Plain, bobwhite quail is favored by burning at 1- to 2-year intervals. Habitat preferences of several endangered species, including the redcockaded woodpecker are also enhanced by burning. However, appropriate burning frequencies for other species are not well known.
Low-intensity burns in hardwood or mixed pine-hardwood stands are also effective in improving wildlife habitat because of the increased sprouting of advance regeneration and stimulation of herbaceous forage. More intense site-preparation burns can also be beneficial where they increase the abundance of legumes and other herbaceous and perennial plants that are preferred by many wildlife species.
Selecting the proper size, frequency, and timing of burns is crucial to the successful use of fire to improve wildlife habitat. Prescriptions should recognize the biological requirements (such as nesting times) of the preferred wildlife species. Also consider the vegetative condition of the stand and, most importantly, the changes fire will produce in understory stature and species composition.
Encyclopedia ID: p576
