Understory prescribed burning in red pine and white pine

Abstract

The alarming loss of forested areas containing red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) and eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) in eastern Canada is a situation that must be addressed promptly by changing management approaches. Since the ecological role of fire in the regeneration and perpetuation of these pines is well known, it makes sense to use fire to maintain pine ecosystems through forest management that uses an understory prescribed burn program. Fears of fire escape and a poor knowledge of applying fire correctly to these ecosystems are the result of poor training in the use of prescribed fire, which normally concentrates solely on post-harvest slash sites; this has prevented extensive use of understory prescribed burning in the past. However, research in Canada, principally using the Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) System coupled with the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System, allows forest managers to develop burning prescriptions that are safe and economical while meeting objectives for seedbed preparation, natural seeding and control of competing vegetation. Key words: crown scorching, eastern white pine, fire, natural regeneration, red pine, seedbed preparation, understory prescribed burning, vegetation control.