Fire as a Tool in Southern Pine 



ern Texas (since establishment of tight 

 fire-protection practices) are being 

 taken over by dense thickets of yaupon. 

 A joint project with the Southern 

 Forest Experiment Station is testing 

 the possibilities of fire use to restore 

 these areas for pine stands. 



GENERAL LESSONS: The lowest 

 damage to timber stands from pre- 

 scribed fires occurred under the fol- 

 lowing conditions: 



Burns between December 20 and 

 February 28; 



The second and third day following 

 a rain; 



Backfiring against a cold, steady 

 north wind having a velocity of 5 to 8 

 miles an hour at ground level ; 



The area broken by clean-plowed 

 lines at 10 to 20 chain intervals run- 

 ning right angles to the wind direction; 



Work done during the daylight, 

 starting about 10 a. m. and completed 

 soon after dark; 



Areas of vulnerable reproduction lo- 

 cated, plowed around, and from which 

 fire was excluded. 



DANGEROUS PRACTICES : 



Plowing 3 weeks or more before 

 burning leaves and needles drift into 

 fire lines and they do not hold ; 



Burning just before a rain winds 

 always become shifty and create hot 

 spots or head fires; 



Using other than backfire excep- 

 tion can be made and flank fire used in 

 seedbed or planting preparation where 

 there is little of value already on the 

 ground; short-head fires are required 

 to remove brush encroachments; 



Burning against any but a northerly 

 wind; others are not reliable; 



Burning with no wind the hot gas- 

 es, not being dissipated by winds, rise 

 directly upward and create high and 

 severe needle scorch; 



Burning at night there is more 

 probability of a calm setting in, result- 

 ing in high scorch. It affords less op- 

 portunity for good supervision; men 

 may lose direction and make mistakes. 

 When dew falls, the line burns un- 



525 



evenly, and parts of the fire go out; 

 the fire may not burn to the control 

 line, and conditions might be danger- 

 ous the following day; 



Laying out a burning plan without 

 first carefully reconnoitering and map- 

 ping the area; 



Burning in longleaf reproduction 

 after it has started height growth and 

 before it exceeds 8 feet in height; 



Leaving a burning job to unskilled 

 hands; 



Trying to burn even though weather 

 conditions begin to change from those 

 expected it pays to put out the fire 

 and send the crew home. 



ESTABLISHED FACTS: 



Fire can be backed against strong 

 winds through our heaviest roughs, 

 under longleaf and slash pine saplings 

 12 feet or more in height, and the 

 scorch confined to the lower one-third 

 of the needles. 



Slash pine reproduction, growing 

 over a moderate fuel accumulation, 

 will have 90 percent survival at 6 feet 

 in height if properly burned. 



Grass-stage longleaf seedlings 2 

 years or more of age store sufficient 

 reserve food in root systems to fully 

 refoliate following a single burn. 



DANGER SIGNALS are these: The 

 height of the scorch line gives a good 

 ocular measure of the quality of a 

 burning job. For advanced longleaf 

 and slash pine, when the scorch in- 

 volves less than the lower one-third of 

 the live needles, no measurable slow- 

 ing down of growth follows. A scorch 

 between the lower one-third and one- 

 half of the needles results in a loss 

 equivalent to one year's growth. As 

 the scorch rises into the upper half the 

 growth loss rises rapidly, creating 

 mortality. 



SEVERAL DIRECTIONS and precau- 

 tions can be given. 



If the examination has shown a 

 need for burning, the area involved is 

 mapped, and a burning plan is laid 

 out. It should set forth the desired 



