Conducting Prescribed Fires: A Comprehensive Manual

Why burn? After almost a century of official anti-fire campaigns (including the phenomenal success of Smokey Bear), the benefits of conducting prescribed fires in the United States are gaining attention. Land owners and managers, municipalities, the logging and livestock industries, and conservation professionals all increasingly recognize that setting prescribed fires may reduce the devastating effects of wildfire, control invasive brush and weeds, improve livestock range and health, maintain wildlife habitat, control parasites, manage forest lands, remove hazardous fuel in the wildland-urban interface, and create residential buffer zones. Prescribed fire, or the systematic application of burning to meet specific land management needs or goals, incorporates one of the few naturally occurring management tools. Used properly by trained practitioners, it can offer a safe, inexpensive, efficient way to enhance the productivity and beauty of a variety of landscapes. In Conduction Prescribed Fires, John R. Weir draws on his many years of on-the-ground experience to offer a step-by-step guide for anyone interested in the "nuts and bolts" of implementing a prescribed burn. From the issues of liability, safety, and public relations to the fundamentals of ignition devices, smoke management, and mop-up, this thorough, practical, how-to manual will help provide guidance and expertise for those whose circumstances favor the use of this environmentally sound practice. 182 pp