How Prescribed Fire Can Restore Oak Forests on the Monongahela

It’s officially Spring and in addition to budding trees and shrubs, it’s also time for scheduled prescribed burns in our national forests. But what exactly, does the forest service hope to accomplish with these burns?  An article on the USFS website outlines their goals for prescribed fires.

“Good fire” on the Monongahela National Forest is not accidental. It is planned, measured, and applied to meet specific ecological objectives.

Prescribed fire, used in conjunction with timber harvesting, is one of the most effective tools we can use to restore and sustain oak ecosystems. It is grounded in decades of research across the eastern United States and is a core component of active forest management on the Monongahela.

Virgin Oak on Meadow Creek in the southern portion of the Monongahela National Forest. Photo taken in 1935.

Why Fire is Needed

Many of the forest types found on the Monongahela, particularly oak-hickory systems, developed with periodic, low-intensity fire. Long before modern management, lightning strikes and anthropogenic (human-ignited, set by indigenous peoples) fire regimes maintained open understories, reduced competing vegetation, and created conditions oaks needed to regenerate.

Over the past century, fire was largely excluded from the landscape. This has caused forest conditions to shift. In some areas today, shade-tolerant, fire-intolerant competitors (also called mesophytic species), such as red maple (Acer rubrum) fill the understory, outcompeting young oaks that require sunlight and open conditions to thrive. At the same time, leaf litter and woody debris accumulate, increasing fuel loads and the potential for more severe wildfires.

Without intervention, oak regeneration declines, the corresponding wildlife that depends on oak systems decline, and long-term forest composition is set on a new trajectory.

What Prescribed Fire Does

Prescribed fire is used to reintroduce this missing ecological process, but under carefully controlled, science-based, and thoroughly planned conditions. On the Monongahela, prescribed fires are implemented to meet specific objectives including promoting oak regeneration, reducing hazardous fuels, and maintaining forest structural diversity.

Benefits to Wildlife

Prescribed fire produces both short-term and long-term benefits for wildlife. In the short-term, burned areas often see rapid growth of herbaceous vegetation. These nutrient rich plants provide forage for species such as wild turkey, ruffed grouse, a wide variety of pollinators, and various songbirds.

Over time, repeated prescribed fire helps maintain structural diversity of a forest, including open understories, canopy openings with patches of regeneration, and varied plant communities. “It’s important to think about fire, and our use of prescribed fire, not as a one-time event, since the species we are managing evolved with a fire regime, a disturbance with a return interval, severity, and patch size,” said Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy, research forester with the Forest Service’s Northern Research Station.

How Burns are Conducted

Prescribed fires are only implemented when conditions meet strict parameters. Fire managers consider the weather, wind, fuel moisture, topography, and smoke dispersion. Each burn is conducted under an approved plan, with trained personnel on site and contingency resources available.

On the Monongahela, prescribed fire is applied strategically to meet environmental and economic objectives. “Every prescribed burn starts with a plan and clear parameters. We only move forward when weather and fuel conditions align within the limits. If they don’t, we wait. That discipline is what allows us to use fire safely and effectively,” said Gabriel Templeton, Fire Management Program Officer with the Monongahela National Forest.

The Monongahela National Forest is currently conducting prescribed burns in several units. To learn more about the program and where burns may take place, please visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/monongahela/fire/prescribed-fire.

Thanks to Andrea Brandon with the Monongahela National Forest for the information in this story.