Making plans for severe fire on the National Forests of North Carolina
A 20-year analysis of wild and prescribed fire on the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests quantified how often and where in the landscape high severity burn patches occurred. This gives forest planners critical insight into the future likelihood of patch formation across vegetation types.
Prior to its suppression, fire was a prevalent source of early successional habitat for southern Appalachian forests. Important for certain plants and wildlife, this critical habitat diminished since the late 20th century. As fire returns to these landscapes as both drought-associated wildfires and prescribed fire treatments, forest planners need to anticipate how and where this critical early successional vegetation type will be restored. A recent collaborative project between Forest Service scientists and resource managers documented fire patch formation from both wild and prescribed fires over two decades for the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests in support of their forest planning process. This analysis showed that fire patch formation was not random, but strongly associated with the driest slopes and potential vegetation types, and that wildfire was much more likely than prescribed fire to kill trees. This research has implications for management of early successional habitat over the life of the next forest plan while providing valuable insights into the vegetation dynamics of these montane forests.
