GEORGIA — Carefully planned fires in the forest, commonly referred to as prescribed fires, can help prevent larger, more extreme wildfires by reducing overgrowth and brush in the forest. Each planned ignition is like medicine to the forest, favoring fire-adapted trees like white oak, shortleaf pine and longleaf pine.

Southern forests depend on fire. That’s because many of the trees that dominate our forests—including pine and oak—depend on fire to thrive. Prescribed fire can open a closed forest canopy and allow the sunlight to reach the ground, helping wildflowers and grasses to grow in the understory, which then provide food for wildlife and pollinators. 

“Living near a forested area, we should understand that fire is a natural and inevitable part of the ecological cycle,” said Mike Ward, fuels program manager with the USDA Forest Service Southern Region’s Fire and Aviation Management team. 

After many years of fire exclusion, an ecosystem that needs periodic fire becomes unhealthy. Trees are stressed by overcrowding, fire-dependent species disappear and flammable fuels build up and become hazardous.

When conducting a prescribed fire, the Forest Service makes use of the best available science, equipment and fire management resources all while monitoring for conducive weather conditions to create the desired habitat safely.

Recently, fire management personnel with the Southern Region’s Fire and Aviation Management team developed an easy-to-use prescribed burn map that shows when, where and why the Forest Service is conducting planned burns on national forests across the Southern Region.

“This tool allows us to pre-plan, coordinate and communicate with the public about our prescribed fires,” said Ward. “A lot of people want to know when and where burns are happening, and now forests have the ability to share information about planned, in-progress and completed burns with their public.”

Firefighters plan prescribed burns to occur on days when smoke will travel away from populated areas and have minimal impacts on air quality. However, despite these vigilant efforts, we know smoke can be disruptive to visitors and communities in localized areas or when winds unexpectedly change direction.

As wildfire danger continues to threaten numerous communities and millions of acres across the United States, the need for prescribed burning has increased and thus has the need to communicate where these prescribed fires are happening.

“Public support for the need to apply prescribed fire is important to achieve the habitat management benefits needed in these woodlands. We want people to know where and who is burning so we can mitigate impacts, but also raise understanding how it helps restore the forests and protects communities,” said Steven Bekkerus, public affairs officer for the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Georgia.

Members of the public can visit the prescribed burn map and select their state within the Southern Region to explore Forest Service prescribed burns located in their local area or the area they will be traveling. 

The variety of views, filters and categories of burn units embedded in the tool allow members of the public to drill down to specific areas of a forest to determine if they want to visit the forest that day or why there may be smoke coming from an area in their surroundings, added Ward.

The map is maintained through a collaboration between the regional fire staff and members of each forest, who track their burn operations at the local forest. This tool provides a mechanism for regional and forest leadership to view accurate, real-time information on prescribed burns across the region while also informing the public.

Over the past five years, the Southern Region has treated an annual average of approximately 1.2 million acres via prescribed burning and is confident they can increase this average over time.

Editor’s note: It is important to remember that the Forest Service is only one of many land management organizations in the Southern Area that actively implements prescribed burns. Our tracking information only identifies Forest Service treatments that are planned and completed. For more specific information please reach out to your local district office.