One of the largest Appalachian Mountain wildfires in history happened just months ago in The Great Smoky Mountains. The fire lasted 4 days beginning on November 28, 2016. The city of Gatlinburg, Tennesssee went through the most damage, losing many homes and buildings to the fire that could have been prevented with the use of prescribed burning (Angotti). Prescribed burning, otherwise known as controlled burning, is the act of planning and controlling a fire to attempt to prevent larger fires.  It is a common misconception that prescribed burning is something of the past; however, it is needed more and more frequently as fuels build up in forests.  There is ongoing research as to what affects prescribed burning have on humans, the environment, and plant and animal life.  There are two sides to this argument: humans, environments, and wildlife are positively affected or negatively affected.  This leads to the question to what extent prescribed burning positively impacts species in an ecosystem? My side of the argument is supported by the articles that argue animals are positively affected by prescribed burns. In a personal interview with Mike McClelland, former president of Backcountry Horsemen of East Tennessee, he mentioned that controlled burning initially started to preserve and better wild animals. Prescribed burning positively impacts wild species by providing oil control, promoting plant growth, and enforcing natural selection. This positive impact of plant and animal species is crucial to the development of life on earth.

The main contributor to the spread of wildfires is the build up of fuel. Wildlife Biologist John Robinette argues that by controlling frequent burns in an environment, light fuels will be burnt up. These fuels include nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon gases that will all burn rapidly if heavily accumulated. If there is no prescribed burn these fuels will build up. Because the fuels that progressively build up are so flammable, they burn quickly when they are in bulk. This is crucial because if a wildfire was to start it would be much harder to stop.  Next, a naturally occurring wildfire, that occurs in a region that does not use prescribed burning, will expand without control – taking out everything in its path. This happens because of the buildup of these gases. Leading off of this, Mike Mclelland states that over time prescribed burning has become increasingly important to illuminate these oils. There is no other way identified to rid the fuels that build in forestry than by burning them bit by bit. This way they will build gradually and get progressively removed instead of burning all at once. Fuels are built on the forest floor by decomposition of organic matter – such as decayed animals. If these fuels are not removed periodically they will build up and cause a huge spread of wildfire. Why does this matter? The rapid spread of wildfire makes it increasingly difficult for animals to outrun and for plants to survive. Therefore, even the animals that do escape will not survive because their food source, whether it be vegetation or other animals that die in the fire, will be gone. Because wildfires spread faster than controlled burns, they also burn more ground before they are recovered. This leaves the animals nowhere to go. The combination of animals burning in the fire, plants dying, and the large distruction of land can lead to extinction of an entire species. Prescribed burning must be used to prevent these tragedies that result from wildfires. 

Critics bring up the point that prescribed burns will destroy homes, and therefore ruin lives, if not take lives. A prescribed burn got out of control after the burn ban was lifted and trying it for the first time in over ten years. The fire was meant to reduce vegetation but instead got out of control and destroyed nearly a dozen homes in Denver, Colorado. Luckily there were no deaths (Bacon). However, this is nothing compared to the number of homes that were burned in the Smoky Mountain Wildfire of Northeast Tennessee and south west North Carolina. 100 homes and 30 buildings were destroyed in the city of Gatlinburg, Tennessee alone. There has been an estimated 15000 acres of wildlife that has been burned in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina (Angotti). Unfortunately, Gatlinburg is not the only city in the US that has been affected by wildfires. Just last year Fort Mccurray, a city known worldwide for its production of oil, is nearly destroyed. 90% of homes in the area were damaged from the fire. A total of 1,600 buildings and houses were destroyed (Stanglin & Rice). It is important to remove fuels from the environment  in order to prevent these tragedies. It is also mentioned in Bacon’s article that there was a burn ban for over ten years before the prescribed burn took place. This allowed for a gathering of fuels. Starting a fire in a place that has a buildup of gases, is not much different than a naturally occurring wildfire. The reason that the fire got away from the burners in this incidence is not because they used a controlled fire, but instead the timing of the controlled fire. The buildup of fuel is dangerous and will cause a fires speed and intensity to increase (Robinette). The burn should have been started much further from human homes, in hope to get surrounding fuels under control before burning an area so close to civilization. While this destruction was caused by a prescribed fire, it could just as easily have been prevented by one as well.

Another benefit of prescribed burning is that it promotes plant growth. By eliminating the accumulation of oils, plants can grow in a more suitable environment. Preserving the life of plants is important to humans because we rely on their byproducts. Plants produce the oxygen that we breathe by making food for themselves in a process known as photosynthesis and respiration.  They require almost nothing form us, yet provide us with everything. This is why it is crucial to do everything we can to protect them. Prescribed burning betters the soil that plants need to grow. By ridding the fuels plants grow faster and many plants have adapted to living through the small prescribed burns that are conducted. But the plants that die out because of prescribed burning are soon replaced with plants that wouldn’t have died; this is a process known as natural selection. (Dzik) Likewise, the increased survival rate of plants will further result in  an increase in types of plants. In areas across the world where prescribed burning is present the level of biodiversity is at its highest. The burns keep the ecosystem at a steady rate, allowing vegetation to flourish. The timing is a very important aspect of prescribed burning. If fires are set during the correct months of the year, the oils will burn more prevalently than the vegetation, resulting in a better habitat for the plant, and it will flourish (Murphy 980). Plants that grow in better soil, and are not surrounded by fuels grow larger and produce more seeds than plants that do not. And because plants are the base of the food chain, if they are thriving, so will all aspects of wildlife.

It is a common counterargument that plants are killed in prescribed burns because they do not have the ability to run away. As prescribed burns are set there is no doubt that some vegetation will burn (source). In many ways, however, the burning of plants and ridding of fuels creates a perfect soil for new plants to flourish. Another reason prescribed burning helps plants is that is prevents overpopulation of animals. By preventing over population of animals, prescribed burning moves animals off of the usual vegetation, giving it the ability to grow and prosper before predation comes back in. (Find) After a prescribed burn in Lope National Park, a herd of buffalo were followed. The buffalo were found to move to an area of safety, but then return to the previous area. Upon return the buffalo thrived. The buffalo left a spot that was perfectly capable of survival for the place that had recently been burned. (Hoek) This suggests that the burning of the land had improved the land, causig the buffalo to prosper more than before. The reasoning behind this is because of the increased vegetation. Not only is the vegetation available in larger quantities, but after the burn the vegetation is more nutritious and valuable to the buffalo. Nutrition is a key aspect to living things. Different plants can provide all nutrients needed in an animal (Mlotshwa 444). However, in order for an ecosystem to contain all of the plants that will provide a mammal with these nutrients the level of biodiversity must be very high. In order to keep this biodiversity prescribed burning needs to be enforced in all forested areas.

Natural selection is the final argument as to why prescribed burning betters plant and animals species. Natural selection is a process similar to survival of the fittest. In the rise of an event, the individuals that possess the traits that are needed to survive are the only ones that will survive. The individuals that do not posess this specific trait will die out. When something is wiped out, in this case like the plants and animals that were burned, the plants and animals that survived are the only ones that can pass on their traits. Therefore, all of the animals in the next generation will possess the needed traits to survive a prescribed burn. For example, say the trait of focus is speed. If  60% of a certain species within a population escaped the fire because they were fast enough, then only those animals are left to reproduce, causing nearly all of the offspring to inherit the speed from the previous generation. Because of this, the next time there is a fire there will more plant and animals survive (Kennemur). Similar to this example is the lung capacity of the Buffalo of Lope National Park. The individual buffalo that did not have the stamina or lung ability to make it through the smoke died out. Instead of hindering the population, instead this betters the next generation (Hoek). 

It is a common topic of controversy that animals are killed in prescribed burns. This is in no way false information. However, what is not being taken into account is the amount of animals that don’t lose their lives, and even more importantly, the preservation of species. If a wildfire starts, not only will animals die at rapid rates, but species will terminate as well. When looking at this, the overall population is what is important. Even if few animals of the same population survive, the population will thrive in a short amount of time. What is worrisome is if a wildfire that cannot be contained gets away and kills the entire population. This is reason enough to allow the death of one individual, in order to protect and better the rest of the population. Likewise, while individuals within a population could die during a controlled burn, the population itself will improve (Mlotshwa 37,39). Through natural selection the overall population will improve by passing on better traits to their offspring (Gillette & Gleason). These offspring will pass those traits on to their offspring, and so forth, resulting in an entire population of highly fit individuals.

Prescribed burning is beneficial to plant and animal life across the US. As mentioned earlier, in an interview with Mike McClelland, he mentions how prescribed burning started in the first place. It began in order to preserve wildlife, not destroy it. McClelland states that many critics are “simply uneducated on the topic, picturing men setting random fires and animals burning in the flames. There is much more work and planning that goes into it than that. 

It is important to protect and improve our wildlife because it is being destroyed all across the world for human expansion. Because of this destruction, it is necessary that we enforce prescribed burning in all states that currently have forestry in order to preserve wildlife and protect the human population. We cannot afford to lose more wildlife to uncontrollable fires. Wildlife provides the human population with oxygen and food along with many other benefits. However, wildlife is not the only reason that it is necessary that we enforce prescribed burning in all states. If the oils aren’t controlled we will not be able to slow the fires before they reach human homes. Finally prescribed burning is important to human society at an economic standpoint. When there is a controlled burn, the government is aware and has time to plan and set aside the money.  By controlling burns and decreasing buildup of fuels, maintenance crews, rescue helicopters, and many other resources can be kept to a minimum. Prescribed burning positively impact the development of wildlife and protects human civilization by providing oil control, promoting plant growth, and enforcing natural selection. This positive impact of plant and animal species is crucial to the development of life on earth.
