Here is a quote from a recent PGC PR.
2009 Press Releases
Search Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency Home Back Printable Version
Release #030-09
GAME COMMISSION HABITAT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT INVOLVES CONTROLLED BURN ON 95-ACRE PORTION OF SGL 176
Project will address safety for nearby communities; preserve Barrens unique habitat
STATE COLLEGE – Pennsylvania Game Commission officials today outlined detailed plans for conducting a controlled burn on the Scotia Barrens on State Game Land 176 in Patton Township, Centre County, to improve habitat conditions within this unique ecosystem. Agency officials also covered how the planned prescribed burn will reduce the possibility of an uncontrolled wildfire impacting the surrounding developed communities.
In a briefing held today on SGL 176, agency officials explained that, if weather conditions cooperate, this one-day controlled burn will be conducted on a designated 95-acre parcel sometime between April 6 and May 8.
“The Scotia Barrens ecosystem, which is a scrub oak/pitch pine barrens, depends on fire to regenerate itself,” said Bill Capouillez, Bureau of Wildlife Habitat Management director. “Prescribed burns are a tool used by the Game Commission to improve habitat and, in this case, will help maintain the ecological integrity of this unique habitat, which supports a number of wildlife and plant species of special concern.
“Also, this controlled burn will reduce the fuel load – the leaf litter, pine needles and twigs on the forest floor – that increases the chance of a catastrophic wildfire being ignited by a lightening strike or by a cigarette carelessly tossed on the ground. Because of decades of fire suppression, fuel loads are unnaturally high. Prescribed fire allows us to control when and where fire occurs rather than react to an emergency situation.”
Additionally, this 95-acre burn will serve as a firebreak for future prescribed burns that are planned for SGL 176 over the next few years. To begin the preparation, agency employees will use bulldozers to begin creating fire breaks, which will include existing roads, trails, herbaceous openings and dozed fire lines on March 9.
While I support the use of controlled burns to improve habitat for wildlife, it should also be noted that the reason for this burn is to prevent nature from following it's normal progression to a different type of habitat, just like HR was implemented in an attempt to prevent a change in the composition of our forests.