Fire in the eastern United States: influence on wildlife habitat

Abstract

Fire is a major influence shaping wildlife habitats in the eastern United States. Lightning- and Indian-ignited fires burned frequently and extensively over the pre-Columbian landscape and shaped the character of numerous ecosystems. Depending upon the frequency, intensity, and severity of the fires, various assemblages of plants developed along environmental gradients, creating a shifting mosaic of habitats for wildlife. For millennia, fire was a major ecological process, mostly burning as frequent, light to moderate intensity surface fires in some ecosystems and as intense, stand-replacing fires in others. Within the past 100 years, fire has been excluded from most of the East and fire-maintained habitats have dramatically declined. In many cases, wildlife species dependent on these habitats are in decline or experiencing dangerously low numbers. Unfortunately, the trend toward a relaxation of bans on burning may soon be reversed due to the adverse publicity from recent disastrous fire in the West.