Advantages of Fire

Most of the time when a person hears the word 'fire' they only think of the negatives and the destruction, when sometimes fire can be beneficial to our environment. They can benefit plants: reducing disease spread, releasing nutrients and encouraging growth.

Some coniferous trees have cones that rely on heat to release the seeds. They are called serotinous cones.

Serotinous cones are covered in a resin that must be melted before the cone can open and release the seeds. As the fire moves through a forest and the cones open, the seeds are distributed by the wind. There is a species of pine that grows from Georgia to Pennsylvania that has serotinous cones – Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens). It grows in dry, rocky sites.

Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens) range

Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens) cones.

Another example of fire being beneficial is with the Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), it requires fire to burn off plants surrounding it. Plants compete for nutrients, light, water and space. As a seedling, the Longleaf pine grows a large root system and has very long waxy needles surrounding the buds. They do this because of the frequent ground fires to protect the seedlings while the other plants are burned off – resulting in less competition.

Because of fire suppression and human development the Longleaf pine ecosystem has degraded from an area of approximately 90 million acres to about 2 million acres. Foresters have been using fire to regain the Longleaf pine areas.

Disease and pests that prey on trees are easily destroyed by fire. More trees die each year from pests and diseases than fires. They also help eliminate invasive species such as Japanese knotweed.

Prescribed fire is one of the more important tools that foresters possess to manage our ecosystems. By burning away the loads of fuels, prescribed fires make locations safer for potential future fires. If all fire is suppressed, fuel can add up and allow larger, sometimes uncontrollable, fires to occur. These fires could be so intense that seeds could be destroyed in the soil, which will hinder new growth.

Fire kicks off vital natural processes by breaking down organic matter into nutrients, which are brought back into the soil (usually by rain). This provides a rich seedbed for plants. The process that a forest undergoes after a fire is called ecological succession.

Eastern meadowlarks benefit from fires; the fires help maintain meadowlands which the birds use for food and rest. White-tailed deer benefit from the new growth for food.

If you would like to learn more about how wildfires are affected by fuels, topography and weather you can click here to read more.