Using Prescribed Fire in the Silviculture of Shortleaf Pine

Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) is the most widespread of any pine in the southeastern United States. It extends from southeastern New York and New Jersey into Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, Kentucky, southwestern Illinois, and southern Missouri, south to eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas, and east to northern Florida and Georgia. The adaptability of shortleaf pine to a great variety of site and soil conditions partly accounts for its wide occurrence.

Shortleaf pine is generally fire resistant, although wildfires in young stands are very damaging, since they easily extend into the crowns. The crowns are usually killed, but shortleaf pine seedlings and small saplings can sprout from the base and form new stems. Larger trees may be killed by very hot fires, particularly if there is a large amount of fuel near the tree base. Fire-damaged trees are also more susceptible to attack by insects and diseases. After the trees grow to large sapling- or small pole-size, prescribed fire can be used to reduce both understory competition and wildfire hazards. Under proper conditions, fire can be used to improve wildlife habitat and is used extensively for site preparation for both natural and artificial regeneration.

Shortleaf pine is generally managed in even-aged stands, primarily because it is intolerant of shade. In the past, fire undoubtedly played an important role in establishing and maintaining the species.

For additional information on the use of prescribed fire in the silviculture of shortleaf pine, see:

• Managing Shortleaf Pine, from the manual Silvicultural Systems for the Major Forest Types of the United States (Burns 1983), provides information on how prescribed fire can be used in combination with different silvicultural systems to manage shortleaf pine.
• Silvics of Shortleaf Pine, from the on-line Silvics of North America (Burns and Honkala 1990), provides information on shortleaf pines habitat (range, climate, soils, topography, associations), life history (reproduction and early growth, sapling and pole stages to maturity); special uses; and genetics.
• Fire Ecology and Management of Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem, from the Fire Ecology section of this encyclopedia, provides a review of historical fire regimes in the shortleaf pine-bluestem range, fire effects, and the use of fire for ecological restoration and maintenance.
• Pinus echinata, from the on-line Fire Effects Information System, provides a review of the fire ecology, fire effects and management considerations of shortleaf pine.