Synonyms
“Fuel treatment,” “planned burning,” “control burning,” “controlled burning,” “management burning.” The planned/burnt areas are typically known as “burns,” “burn offs,” or “burn units” but may also be described in terms of their aim, e.g., “hazard reduction burn,” “fuel reduction burn,” or “ecological burn.”
Definition
Prescribed burning is the controlled application of fire to a defined vegetated area to maintain or modify a system to meet a predetermined objective or objectives.
Introduction
Prescribed burning is a practice widely used to mitigate risks of damage from wildfires by reducing the amount of fuel available and modifying its structure. It is carried out at scales from meters to kilometers and is utilized to protect a wide variety of assets including settlements, infrastructure, catchments, and recreation areas. Prescribed burning can also be used to enhance agricultural productivity and manage ecosystem services. Forms of prescribed burning have been carried out...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Abrams MD, Dickmann DI (1982) Early revegetation of clear-cut and burned jack pine sites in northern lower Michigan. Can J Bot 60:946–954. https://doi.org/10.1139/b82-120
Agee JK, Skinner CN (2005) Basic principles of forest fuel reduction treatments. For Ecol Manage 211:83–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2005.01.034
Ager AA, Vaillant NM, Finney MA (2010) A comparison of landscape fuel treatment strategies to mitigate wildland fire risk in the urban interface and preserve old forest structure. For Ecol Manage 259:1556–1570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2010.01.032
Ager AA, Vaillant NM, Finney MA, Preisler HK (2012) Analyzing wildfire exposure and source–sink relationships on a fire prone forest landscape. For Ecol Manage 267:271–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2011.11.021
Anderson WR et al (2015) A generic, empirical-based model for predicting rate of fire spread in shrublands. Int J Wildland Fire 24:443–460. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF14130
Archibald S, Staver AC, Levin SA (2012) Evolution of human-driven fire regimes in Africa. PNAS 109:847
Australasian Fire Authorities Council (2012) Bushfire glossary. Australasian Fire Authorities Council, Melbourne
Bacon PE, Hoult EH, McGarity JW, Alter D (1988) Effect of stubble management technique on soil and fertiliser nitrogen recovery by wheat sown after rice. Aust J Exp Agric 28:485–490
Barnett K, Parks AS, Miller C, Naughton TH (2016) Beyond fuel treatment effectiveness: characterizing interactions between fire and treatments in the US. Forests 7:237. https://doi.org/10.3390/f7100237
Berry AH, Hesseln H (2004) The effect of the wildland-urban interface on prescribed burning costs in the pacific northwestern United States. J For 102:33–37. https://doi.org/10.1093/jof/102.6.33
Berry AH, Donovan G, Hesseln H (2006) Prescribed burning costs and the WUI: economic effects in the Pacific Northwest. West J Appl For 21:72–78
Billing P, Bywater JV (1982) Using fire to reduce aerial fuels in first thinned radiata pine. Forest Commission, Victoria, Melbourne
Boer MM, Sadler RJ, Wittkuhn RS, McCaw L, Grierson PF (2009) Long-term impacts of prescribed burning on regional extent and incidence of wildfires: evidence from 50 years of active fire management in SW Australian forests. For Ecol Manage 259:132–142
Bond WJ, Keeley JE (2005) Fire as a global ‘herbivore’: the ecology and evolution of flammable ecosystems. Trends Ecol Evol 20:387–394
Bond WJ, Woodward FI, Midgley GF (2005) The global distribution of ecosystems in a world without fire. New Phytol 165:525–537
Bowman DMJS et al (2011) The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth. J Biogeogr 38:2223–2236. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02595.x
Bradstock RA, Bedward M, Gill AM, Cohn JS (2005) Which mosaic? A landscape ecological approach for evaluating interactions between fire regimes, habitat and animals. Wildl Res 32:409–423
Brockett BH, Biggs HC, van Wilgen BW (2001) A patch mosaic burning system for conservation areas in southern African savannas. Int J Wildland Fire 10:169–183. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF01024
Brooks ML et al (2004) Effects of invasive alien plants on fire regimes. Bioscience 54:677–688. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0677:eoiapo]2.0.co;2
Bünemann EK, Heenan DP, Marschner P, McNeill AM (2006) Long-term effects of crop rotation, stubble management and tillage on soil phosphorus dynamics. Soil Res 44:611–618
Byram GM (1959) Hazard reduction. In: Davis KP (ed) Forest fire: control and use. McGraw Hill, New York, pp 90–123
Calkin DE, Cohen JD, Finney MA, Thompson MP (2014) How risk management can prevent future wildfire disasters in the wildland-urban interface. PNAS 111:746
Cary GJ et al (2009) Relative importance of fuel management, ignition management and weather for area burned: evidence from five landscape fire succession models. Int J Wildland Fire 18:147–156. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF07085
Cassagne N, Pimont F, Dupuy J-L, Linn RR, Mårell A, Oliveri C, Rigolot E (2011) Using a fire propagation model to assess the efficiency of prescribed burning in reducing the fire hazard. Ecol Model 222(8):1502–1514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.02.004
Castellnou M, Kraus D, Miralles M (2010) Prescribed burning and suppression fire techniques: from fuel to landscape management. In: Montiel C, Kraus D (eds) Best practices of fire use – prescribed burning and suppression fire programmes in selected case-study regions in Europe. Research report 24. European Forest Institute, Joensuu
Cawson JG, Sheridan GJ, Smith HG, Lane PNJ (2013) Effects of fire severity and burn patchiness on hillslope-scale surface runoff, erosion and hydrologic connectivity in a prescribed burn. For Ecol Manage 310:219–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2013.08.016
Cawson JG, Duff TJ, Tolhurst KG, Baillie CC, Penman TD (2017) Fuel moisture in Mountain Ash forests with contrasting fire histories. For Ecol Manage 400:568–577. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.06.046
Cheney NP, Gould JS, McCaw WL, Anderson WR (2012) Predicting fire behaviour in dry eucalypt forest in southern Australia. For Ecol Manage 280:120–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.06.012
Christensen PE, Burrows ND (1986) Fire: an old tool with a new use. Australian Academy of Science, Canberra
Cochrane MA (2001) In the line of fire: understanding the impacts of tropical forest fires. Environ Sci Policy Sustain Dev 43:28–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/00139150109604505
Cochrane MA (2003) Fire science for rainforests. Nature 421:913. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01437
Cochrane MA et al (2012) Estimation of wildfire size and risk changes due to fuels treatments. Int J Wildland Fire 21:357–367. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF11079
Cohen JD (1999) Reducing the wildland fire threat to homes: where and how much? Paper presented at the proceedings of the symposium on fire economics, planning and policy: bottom lines, San Diego
Cooper CF (1961) The ecology of fire. Sci Am 204:150
Coppoletta M, Merriam KE, Collins BM (2016) Post-fire vegetation and fuel development influences fire severity patterns in reburns. Ecol Appl 26:686–699. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0225
Cramer OP (1974) Environmental effects of forest residues management in the Pacific Northwest: a state-of-knowledge compendium. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Portland
Debuse VJ, Lewis T (2014) Long-term repeated burning reduces Lantana camara regeneration in a dry eucalypt forest. Biol Invasions 16:2697–2711. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-014-0697-y
Delcourt HR, Delcourt PA (1997) Pre-Columbian Native American use of fire on southern Appalachian landscapes. Conserv Biol 11:1010–1014. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1997.96338.x
Dennekamp M, Abramson MJ (2011) The effects of bushfire smoke on respiratory health. Respirology 16:198–209. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1843.2010.01868.x
DiTomaso JM, Brooks ML, Allen EB, Minnich R, Rice PM, Kyser GB (2006) Control of invasive weeds with prescribed burning. Weed Technol 20:535–548. https://doi.org/10.1614/WT-05-086R1.1
Doyen E, Bégeot C, Simonneau A, Millet L, Chapron E, Arnaud F, Vannière B (2016) Land use development and environmental responses since the Neolithic around Lake Paladru in the French Pre-alps. J Archaeol Sci Rep 7:48–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.03.040
Duff TJ, Bell TL, York A (2012) Predicting continuous variation in forest fuel load using biophysical models: a case study in south-eastern Australia. Int J Wildland Fire 22:318–332. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF11087
Fernandes PM (2015) Empirical support for the use of prescribed burning as a fuel treatment. Curr For Rep 1:118–127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40725-015-0010-z
Fernandes PM, Botelho HS (2003) A review of prescribed burning effectiveness in fire hazard reduction. Int J Wildland Fire 12:117–128
Flannigan MD, Stocks BJ, Wotton BM (2000) Climate change and forest fires. Sci Total Environ 262:221–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-9697(00)00524-6
Fletcher M-S, Thomas I (2010) A Holocene record of sea level, vegetation, people and fire from western Tasmania, Australia. Holocene 20:351–361
Franklin J et al (2001) Simulating the effects of different fire regimes on plant functional groups in Southern California. Ecol Model 142:261–283
Gibbons P et al (2012) Land management practices associated with house loss in wildfires. PLoS One 7:e29212. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029212
Gorte JK, Gorte RW (1979) Application of economic techniques to fire management – a status review and evaluation. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ogden
Hardison JR (1976) Fire and flame for plant disease control. Annu Rev Phytopathol 14:355–379
Hering AS, Bell CL, Genton MG (2009) Modeling spatio-temporal wildfire ignition point patterns. Environ Ecol Stat 16:225–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10651-007-0080-6
Holden ZA, Jolly WM (2011) Modeling topographic influences on fuel moisture and fire danger in complex terrain to improve wildland fire management decision support. For Ecol Manage 262:2133–2141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2011.08.002
Holdsworth AR, Uhl C (1997) Fire in amazonian selectively logged rain forest and the potential for fire reduction. Ecol Appl 7:713–725. https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(1997)007[0713:FIASLR]2.0.CO;2
Jasinge NU, Huynh T, Lawrie AC (2018) Changes in orchid populations and endophytic fungi with rainfall and prescribed burning in Pterostylis revoluta in Victoria, Australia. Ann Bot 121:321–334. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcx164
Jin Y, Randerson JT, Goetz SJ, Beck PSA, Loranty MM, Goulden ML (2012) The influence of burn severity on postfire vegetation recovery and albedo change during early succession in North American boreal forests. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 117. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JG001886
Keane RE (2015) Wildland fuel fundamentals and applications. Springer, New York
Keeley JE (2006) Fire management impacts on invasive plants in the western United States. Conserv Biol 20:375. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00339.x
Kimmerer RW, Lake FK (2001) The role of indigenous burning in land management. J For 99:36–41. https://doi.org/10.1093/jof/99.11.36
King KJ, Cary GJ, Bradstock RA, Chapman J, Pyrke A, Marsden-Smedley JB (2006) Simulation of prescribed burning strategies in south-west Tasmania, Australia: effects on unplanned fires, fire regimes and ecological management values. Int J Wildland Fire 15:527–540
Knight I, Hutchings P, Cheney S, Sullivan A (1998) Project vesta: structure of wind in the forest. CSIRO Forestry and forest products, ACT Australia
Launonen TM, Ashton DH, Keane PJ (1999) The effect of regeneration burns on the growth, nutrient acquisition and mycorrhizae of Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell. (mountain ash) seedlings. Plant Soil 210:273–283
Lydersen JM et al (2017) Evidence of fuels management and fire weather influencing fire severity in an extreme fire event. Ecol Appl 27:2013–2030. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1586
McAdoo JK, Schultz BW, Swanson SR (2013) Aboriginal precedent for active management of sagebrush-perennial grass communities in the Great Basin. Rangeland Ecol Manage 66:241–253. https://doi.org/10.2111/REM-D-11-00231.1
McArthur AG (1962) Control burning in Eucalypt forests. Forestry and Timber Bureau, Department of National Development, Canberra
McCarthy MA, Gill AM, Bradstock RA (2001) Theoretical fire interval distributions. Int J Wildland Fire 10:73–77
McCarthy G, Moon K, Smith L (2017) Mapping fire severity and fire extent in forest in Victoria for ecological and fuel outcomes. Ecol Manage Restor 18:54–65. https://doi.org/10.1111/emr.12242
McCaw L, Simpson G, Mair G (1992) Extreme wildfire behaviour in 3-year-old fuels in a Western Australian mixed Eucalyptus forest. Aust For 55:107–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049158.1992.10676104
McCaw LW, Gould JS, Phillip Cheney N, Ellis PFM, Anderson WR (2012) Changes in behaviour of fire in dry eucalypt forest as fuel increases with age. For Ecol Manage 271:170–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.02.003
Morgan P et al (2014) Challenges of assessing fire and burn severity using field measures, remote sensing and modelling. Int J Wildland Fire 23:1045–1060
Murphy BP, Bowman DMJS (2007) The interdependence of fire, grass, kangaroos and Australian Aborigines: a case study from central Arnhem Land, northern Australia. J Biogeogr 34:237–250. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01591.x
Myerscough PJ, Clarke PJ (2007) Burnt to blazes: landscape fires, resilience and habitat interaction in frequently burnt coastal heath. Aust J Bot 55:91–102. https://doi.org/10.1071/BT06114
Parr CL, Andersen AN (2006) Patch mosaic burning for biodiversity conservation: a critique of the pyrodiversity paradigm. Conserv Biol 20:1610–1619
Pausas JG, Keeley JE, Schwilk DW (2016) Flammability as an ecological and evolutionary driver. J Ecol. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12691
Pendergrass KL, Miller PM, Kauffman JB, Kaye TN (1999) The role of prescribed burning in maintenance of an endangered plant species, Lomatium bradshawii. Ecol Appl 9:1420–1429. https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(1999)009[1420:TROPBI]2.0.CO;2
Penman TD et al (2011) Prescribed burning: how can it work to conserve the things we value? Int J Wildland Fire 20:721–733. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF09131
Penman TD, Bradstock RA, Price O (2013) Modelling the determinants of ignition in the Sydney Basin, Australia: implications for future management. Int J Wildland Fire 22:469–478. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF12027
Penman TD, Bradstock RA, Price OF (2014) Reducing wildfire risk to urban developments: simulation of cost-effective fuel treatment solutions in south eastern Australia. Environ Model Software 52:166–175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2013.09.030
Penman TE, Cawson JG, Murphy S, Duff TJ (2017) Messmate Stringybark: bark ignitability and burning sustainability in relation to fragment dimensions, hazard and time since fire. Int J Wildland Fire 26:866
Peterson G, Allen CR, Holling CS (1998) Ecological resilience, biodiversity, and scale. Ecosystems 1:6–18
Price OF (2012) The drivers of effectiveness of prescribed fire treatment. For Sci 58:606–617. https://doi.org/10.5849/forsci.11-002
Price OF, Bradstock RA (2010) The effect of fuel age on the spread of fire in sclerophyll forest in the Sydney region of Australia. Int J Wildland Fire 19:35–45. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF08167
Price OF, Pausas JG, Govender N, Flannigan M, Fernandes PM, Brooks ML, Bird RB (2015) Global patterns in fire leverage: the response of annual area burnt to previous fire. Int J Wildland Fire 24:297–306
Raison RJ, Woods PV, Khanna PK (1983) Dynamics of fine fuels in recurrently burnt eucalypt forests. Aust For 46:294–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049158.1983.10674414
Roder W, Phengchanh S, Keoboulapha B (1995) Relationships between soil, fallow period, weeds and rice yield in slash-and-burn systems of Laos. Plant Soil 176:27–36
Russell-Smith J et al (2009) Improving estimates of savanna burning emissions for greenhouse accounting in northern Australia: limitations, challenges, applications. Int J Wildland Fire 18:1–18
Schnepf C, Graham RT, Kegley S, Jain T (2009) Managing organic debris for forest health: reconciling fire hazard, bark beetles, wildlife, and forest nutrition needs. University of Idaho, Idaho
Slijepcevic A, Anderson WR, Matthews S, Anderson DH (2015) Evaluating models to predict daily fine fuel moisture content in eucalypt forest. For Ecol Manage 335:261–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.09.040
Stephens SL, Collins BM, Biber E, FulÉ PZ (2016) U.S. federal fire and forest policy: emphasizing resilience in dry forests. Ecosphere 7:1
Styger E, Rakotondramasy HM, Pfeffer MJ, Fernandes ECM, Bates DM (2007) Influence of slash-and-burn farming practices on fallow succession and land degradation in the rainforest region of Madagascar. Agric, Ecosyst Environ 119:257–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2006.07.012
Syphard AD, Radeloff VC, Keeley JE, Hawbaker TJ, Clayton MK, Stewart SI, Hammer RB (2007) Human influence on California fire regimes. Ecol Appl 17:1388–1402. https://doi.org/10.1890/06-1128.1
Thomas PB, Watson PJ, Bradstock RA, Penman TD, Price OF (2014) Modelling surface fine fuel dynamics across climate gradients in eucalypt forests of south-eastern Australia. Ecography 37:827–837. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.00445
Tolhurst KG, Cheney NP (1999) Synopsis of the knowledge used in prescribed burning in Victoria. Department of Natural Resources and Environment, East Melbourne
Tolhurst KG, McCarthy G (2016) Effect of prescribed burning on wildfire severity: a landscape-scale case study from the 2003 fires in Victoria. Aust For 79:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049158.2015.1127197
Trollope WSW, Potgieter ALF, Zambatis N (1989) Assessing veld condition in the Kruger National Park using key grass species. Koedoe 32:67–93
Twidwell D, Wonkka CL, Sindelar MT, Weir JR (2015) First approximations of prescribed fire risks relative to other management techniques used on private lands. PLoS One 10:e0140410. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140410
Vaarzon-Morel P, Gabrys K (2009) Fire on the horizon: contemporary Aboriginal burning issues in the Tanami Desert, central Australia. GeoJournal 74:465–476
Wade DD, Dixon MJ, Lunsford JD (1989) A guide for prescribed fire in southern forests. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Atlanta
Weir JR (2009) Conducting prescribed fires: a comprehensive manual. Texas A&M University Press, College Station
Weir JR (2011) Are weather and tradition reducing our ability to conduct prescribed burns? Rangelands 33:25–30. https://doi.org/10.2111/RANGELANDS-D-10-00050.1
Weise DR, Wright CS (2014) Wildland fire emissions, carbon and climate: characterizing wildland fuels. For Ecol Manage 317:26–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2013.02.037
Wiedinmyer C, Hurteau MD (2010) Prescribed fire as a means of reducing forest carbon emissions in the Western United States. Environ Sci Technol 44:1926–1932. https://doi.org/10.1021/es902455e
Wimberly MC, Cochrane MA, Baer AD, Pabst K (2009) Assessing fuel treatment effectiveness using satellite imagery and spatial statistics. Ecol Appl 19:1377–1384. https://doi.org/10.1890/08-1685.1
Yoder J, Engle D, Fuhlendorf S (2004) Liability, incentives, and prescribed fire for ecosystem management. Front Ecol Environ 2:361–366. https://doi.org/10.1890/1540-9295(2004)002[0361:LIAPFF]2.0.CO;2
Zabowski D, Java B, Scherer G, Everett RL, Ottmar R (2000) Timber harvesting residue treatment: part 1. Responses of conifer seedlings, soils and microclimate. For Ecol Manage 126:25–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(99)00081-X
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Duff, T.J., Cawson, J.G., Penman, T.D. (2018). Prescribed Burning. In: Manzello, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Wildfires and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_120-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_120-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51727-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51727-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering