Restoring fire to forests: Contrasting the effects on soils of prescribed fire and wildfire

Fire has shaped plant communities for hundreds of million years. Wildland fire in the 21st Century covers a spectrum from low severity, localized prescribed fires to landscape-level high severity wildfires that affect vegetation, soils, water, fauna, air, and cultural resources. The knowledge of fire effects is important to land managers because fire is an integral part of the concept of ecosystem management and restoration. Concerns exist that introduction of prescribed fire as a management tool will cause unintended disturbances to ecosystems. This is a scientific and management concern in ecosystems where fire has been intentionally excluded for long periods of time. The use of prescribed fire in wildland ecosystems is now a critical component of management directed restoration activities needed to prevent catastrophic, high-severity wildfire. Prescribed fires normally do not rise to the level of severity that produces serious ecosystem impacts, particularly with respect to impacts on soils.