by Wesley Harris
For many North Louisiana landowners, improving wildlife habitat may begin with something that sounds counterproductive — setting the woods on fire.
That was the message of the Piney Hills Prescribed Burn Association (PBA) Tuesday night during its annual meeting, where landowners and conservation professionals discussed the use of carefully controlled fire to improve forestland and wildlife habitat.
A prescribed burn is far different from a wildfire. It is the planned use of fire under carefully selected weather and environmental conditions to accomplish specific land-management goals.
Fire can remove thick vegetation and leaf litter that crowd the forest floor. Combined with proper timber thinning, it allows more sunlight to reach the ground, encouraging native grasses, wildflowers, and other plants that provide food and cover for wildlife.
“Prescribed burn is the cheapest, easiest way to affect change and take a property back to native status,” PBA President Jesse Davis said. “By putting sunlight on the ground, by thinning, and then burning to let the native seed bank, the seeds that are in the ground, express themselves. It’s the quickest, easiest way to make good quality wildlife habitat.”
The association brings together landowners and others interested in prescribed fire to provide the qualified personnel, equipment, experience, and training needed to conduct burns. For landowners who have never used prescribed fire, Davis said one of the best ways to learn is by first helping with a burn on someone else’s property.
The cooperative approach is at the heart of the organization. Members help other landowners conduct burns, with the expectation that those landowners will return the favor when another member needs help. The association also has equipment individual landowners may not own, including ATVs, burn trailers, drip torches, and radios.
“We provide experience, equipment,” Davis said. “We’ve got plenty of equipment, and we’ve got plenty of experience. Experience and manpower.”
The association has grown considerably since beginning in 2021. Approximately 80 people attended Tuesday’s meeting, and Davis said the organization has 172 people in its communication network and nearly 500 Facebook followers.
The work of the Piney Hills PBA has increased as landowners learn of the service.
Since the previous annual meeting, the association conducted 24 burns covering 924 acres, nearly twice the previous year’s total. During the current year alone, members had already completed 16 burns covering just under 800 acres.
The idea behind prescribed fire is to reproduce a natural process that once occurred regularly across the region.
Davis said much of North Louisiana historically consisted of more open pine and post oak country, with few trees and a ground layer of native grasses and other vegetation. Periodic fires helped maintain that landscape.
“When we started putting out fire, the landscape changed,” Davis said.
Without periodic fire, woody vegetation can become increasingly dense, reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the forest floor. Returning fire to the landscape can help control that growth and allow native vegetation to return.
Davis pointed to sweet gum as one example. Sweet gum, he said, has become common in North Louisiana uplands in part because fire has been removed from the landscape. Regular fire suppresses young sweet gum and other woody growth that can create a thick understory.
The resulting habitat can benefit a variety of wildlife, but Davis said birds are among the biggest beneficiaries.
“When I started burning, wild turkey was the only thing I wanted to see on my land,” Davis said. “Well, now I’ve got songbirds, I’ve got every species of woodpeckers, I’ve got quail.”
Quail are particularly associated with the open habitat created and maintained by fire. Davis said the combination of sunlight and periodic burning produces the grasses and other low-growing plants the birds need.
“Turkeys, quail, and songbirds are the biggest proponents,” he said.
Evidence of that connection is also being seen through conservation programs operating in the region.
Katherine Wiggins, conservation delivery coordinator for the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture, told those attending the meeting about the Open Pine Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which works with private landowners to restore upland habitat.
The program focuses on two primary components — opening forests so sunlight reaches the ground and using prescribed fire to maintain that habitat. Northern bobwhite and eastern wild turkey are among the wildlife species targeted by the program.
Wiggins said monitoring since 2022 has detected bobwhite quail on nine project sites. All but one of those sites had experienced a prescribed burn within the previous three years.
While the benefits of fire are central to the PBA’s message, Davis emphasized that prescribed burning is not simply setting fire to a tract of woods.
A prescribed burn begins with a plan.
The plan establishes the conditions under which the fire can be conducted safely, including acceptable temperature, humidity, and wind conditions. Davis said burn plans are prepared in advance and appropriate agencies and local officials are notified before a burn.
“If you just do a fire, it’s not prescribed because you didn’t plan it,” Davis said.
That planning, equipment, and sufficient staffing can present hurdles for private landowners interested in using fire as a management tool. Helping them overcome those hurdles is one of the PBA’s primary purposes.
“If you’ve never done a prescribed fire, then we’re going to help you figure that out,” Davis said.
The association allows interested landowners to attend and help with burns before becoming members. A $40 membership is required when the PBA conducts a burn on a member’s property.
For Davis, the results of returning fire to the landscape are visible on his own property.
He recalled using an app to identify the birds he could hear around him. He counted about 20 different songbirds. Nearby properties included open pasture and commercial forestland that had not been burned.
His burned property, Davis said, was different.
“My place was alive,” he said. “And the only difference is we’re running fire across ours.”
For more information, see the PBA’s Facebook page: Louisiana Piney Woods PBA
