Summary: The Necessity Of Prescribed Burns

Forest fires kill many animals and usually destroy a large amount of land. Prescribed burns seem like they would be the best idea, but are they? Their claim to fame is to clear out land in order to decrease the burning space for when an actual forest fire occurs. Yet this may seem like a brilliant idea, but one must look at the negative aspects of controlled burnings. People might have a change of heart when they realize the damages and effects of such an interesting act. Keep in mind that not only is your health involved but even such things as the inconvenience of dealing with a smoky town. It is important to understand that prescribed burns cause severe health problems especially to

There are many reasons that a controlled fire is very necessary to our environment. It is not only beneficial to nature but also to people as well. For example, many farmers will have controlled fires to improve the land for their livestock. When the land is burned off, new growth will begin to take its place which in turn becomes better "food" for the animals. The new growth is richer and has more nutrients than the old, dried

It will also produce for Nitrogen into the soil, to help more plants and vegetation grow in the future. With the Nitrogen and other additional nutrients in the soil it is helping farmers with their crops getting the nutrients it needs. Fires can also clear forests of insect infestations and potential diseases Warren (2011). Among the other benefits of prescribed burning are: Insect pest control, Removal of exotic, or non-species that compete with native species for nutrients and other needs, Fires occurring in nature can restore ecological balance and facilitate regeneration Warren

There are also so many animals that go along with the damage from the fires because they are living in the middle of it and do not have any where to go. It makes sense that actions such as controlled burns should be done because so much could be prevented. Then again there are so many people who argue against them because they are a disruption to the environment. “Fire experts argue that prescribed burns are vital for reducing the risk of catastrophic blazes and restoring ecosystems that evolved with fire” (Tobin 2). If a great deal of damage could be prevented, I do not see why there should be any concern. This is especially important when you look at what more damage is done to the environment during a huge forest fire compared to on from a petite controlled burn.

For as long as mankind can conceive, fire has been a remarkable tool to conquer. When controlled, it provides necessary heat, energy, and fuel for a consumer to use; however, when fire goes unattended, it has the potential to become a wholly destructive element. The more western states of America, such as Utah and Colorado, have repeatedly experienced this concept in its most devastating form: wildfires. A wildfire is generally considered to be difficult to control and fast moving, swallowing anything that lay in its path, including forest or human habitat. As human incursion reaches more remote areas in wooded mountains, wildfires pose a serious threat to high-end homes and secluded cabins. The untamed nature of these fires also allows them to creep into subdivisions and endanger more

no surprise that wildfires are a huge issue in the western states. Especially on Indian Reservations. Two articles that focus on this issue are called Secretary Zinke Directs Interior Bureaus to Take aggressive Action to Prevent Wildfires, US Department of Interior & Western US Faces Wildfires Explosion by Kieran Cooke, Climate News Network. Both of these articles argue that wildfires shouldn’t become normalized and that something should be done to prevent and/or be better prepared for when wildfires occur. In essence these articles focus primarily on the amount of land burning and the effect it has on vegetation.

The Blocker Burn Unit is a six bed Burn Intensive Care Unit located at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. It has a long and storied history of providing innovative burn care to its patients. The Burn unit was initially founded after a massive explosion in Texas City Harbor that injured hundreds of people in 1944. Since inception, the unit has dealt with disaster both fabricated and natural. In 2008, the BBU was one of only a handful of services to remain open and operational after Hurricane Ike landed and dealt massive injury to UTMB. The BBU not only sustained operations but also briefly expanded to provide pediatric burn care when Shriners Burns Hospital was subsequently unable to reopen post hurricane. This paper will detail the realities confronted by the BBU both currently, and in the future, with an exploration as to those implications on fiscal outlook and provision of care.

Fires can either be natural or anthropogenic, which can depend on any situation. A study conducted in 2004 on a wild fire at Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, suggests that the fire can

Today due to controlling forest fires in the past overgrown shrubs now affect trees. Prescribed burnings are conducted to replenish nutrients into the soil while protecting the trees themselves. Prescribed burning is less hot and less intense so that it can be controlled.

wildfires can be very dangerous to wildlife plants people and buildings the plants help to fuel the fires and that just makes it worse than it would be in a area with a lot less brush to fuel the fire. Wildfires can be very destructive this wild fire burnt 3,000,000 acres of land that is about the size of the state

According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, Wildfire means “a sweeping and destructive conflagration esp. in a wilderness or a rural area.” Also according to the same dictionary, wilderness means “a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings.” Forest Fires happen when there is a drought because branches and twigs die and dry out creating plenty of fuel for a fire. According to the NIFC (National Interagency Fire Center) there are about 105,534 wildfires that occur each year.

While not all the effects of prescribed burns are known some are very evident. The first of these common effects is that vegetation and fallen dead material are burned creating an open forest floor. This eliminates any fuel that could contribute to a high intensity fire in the future. When the fire burns the organic material in the forest, nutrient rich ash is left behind. When the first rain comes, the nutrients in the ash dissolve into the soil for the new plants to use. This process is called nutrient recycling. These nutrients left in the soil are a good source of food for the young plants that will begin to grow back. Another outcome of prescribed fire is that new growth begins immediately after the fires have been extinguished. Within

Many people, due to simple logic, may believe that increasing deforestation will cut down on wildfires in dry conditions. If you consider it for a little while it seems to make sense. Less trees means less fuel for a fire to burn through. As said before, it’s simple logic. Except for the fact it isn’t. In fact according to Chad Hanson, commercial logging doesn’t stop wildfires, it causes them! In his article The Big Lie: Logging and Forest Fires, he wrote “Relentless clearing of forests in the Great Lakes region left huge areas largely devoid of the cooling shade of trees, replacing moist natural forest microclimates with the hotter, drier conditions characterized by stump fields.” (Hanson) He then explained that because of these dry and hot

Wildfires can be a serious disaster in terms of both human and ecological aspects. When it comes to land ethic though, it certainly serves a purpose as well along with many other natural disasters. These disasters can be viewed as a mechanism that the Earth uses to replenish itself. That is, they can also shape our landscapes and nature as a whole. There has to be some control of the disasters through human intervention. In order for this to be, humans must also evaluate why wildfires exist and the purpose of them. Forests can benefit much from forest fires in moderation as long as there not excessive or widespread.

Humans have been changing the Western forests' fire system since the settlement by the Europeans and now we are experiencing the consequences of those changes. During the summer of 2002, 6.9 million acres of forests was burnt up in the West (Wildland Fires, 1). This figure is two times the ten year annual average, and it does not look like next summer will be any better (Wildfire Season, 1).