Forest landowners, other than state agencies, in Pennsylvania generally use very little prescribed fire on their lands.

They’re missing out on an effective management tool that could be helping them to promote the growth of desired tree species, spur new growth to provide food and cover for wildlife, control invasive plants, suppress Lyme-carrying ticks and more, according to Jesse Kreye, assistant professor of fire and natural resources management in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Prescribed fire is the controlled, low-intensity burn of defined and contained areas of forest with specific management goals in mind.

State agencies, like the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, have been using prescribed fire for at least a decade.

But private landowners face a number of obstacles in doing the same.

“In a number of states, such as Florida, hundreds of thousands of acres are burned in a controlled way each year to manage private forest land,” said Kreye, who is spearheading creation of the new extension initiative. “We believe that forest landowners in Pennsylvania could have that option.”

Because there was considerable interest by state agencies in bringing fire back to help restore the landscape, where it had been used historically, the General Assembly in 2009 passed legislation called the Prescribed Burning Act.

The law changed liability statutes and cleared the way for land managers who observe a suite of specified precautions the ability to use prescribed fire as a forest-management tool.

“Private landowners have largely been unable to use the tool,” Kreye said. “And there are still a lot of people in Pennsylvania who aren't aware of why they should be using controlled fire and what benefits it provides.”

While some aspects of the Fire and Natural Resource Management program have yet to be finalized, Kreye sees Penn State Extension’s role as organizational, such as working with the Pennsylvania Prescribed Burn Council to help private landowners form burn associations common in other states, offering training to those groups and helping them make arrangements with certified burn bosses required by state law to conduct controlled burns.

Another important role of the program would be to provide training to increase the number of certified burn bosses. In addition, training will be needed on how to write prescribed burn plans and conduct a burn, monitor weather, and more.

“Extension might organize landowners to work together with a burn boss to conduct a prescribed fire on several properties that would be too small to feasibly be burned alone,” he said.

Kreye's research, which he has conducted for about a decade in Florida and California, is aimed at quantifying how fire benefits forest landscapes. He believes the upside in Pennsylvania is huge, for both public and private landowners.

“Controlled fire offers the opportunity to restore important ecosystems here such as the oak forest, and the need to reduce tick populations is compelling,” he said. “Pennsylvania has the worst tick and Lyme disease problem in the country, and burning can reduce that. Prescribed fire also may prove to be an important tool in the fight against invasive plants.”

“Our hope is that we can help increase the capacity of people trained to conduct prescribed fire on private lands in Pennsylvania,” noted Chris Houser, Penn State Extension assistant director for natural resources programs, said. “Right now, it is extremely difficult for private landowners to use fire on their own properties.”

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