Wahlenberg's definitive 

 work on longleaf pine (1946) 

 cited many research find- 

 ings on the beneficial role 

 of fire for silvicultural purpos- 

 es. 



Since the 1940's, dozens of 

 scientists have issued 

 reports on various aspects 

 of prescribed burning (Crow 

 1982). Research by E.R. 

 Ferguson, R.W. Cooper, 

 E.V. Brender, T. Lotti, and 

 others demonstrated that in 

 pine types other than 

 longleaf, and in pine- 

 hardwood forests, pre- 

 scribed burning is some- 

 what less effective and 

 more difficult than in longleaf 

 forests but still helps sup- 

 press unwanted vegetation 

 and improves grazing and 

 wildfire habitat. In hardwood 

 types, on the other hand, 

 studies revealed serious 

 problems of decay in trees 

 damaged by fire (e.g., 

 Hepting 1935). 



Continued concern over 

 effects of repeated fires on 

 soil productivity was an- 

 swered by studies that 

 revealed little or no adverse 

 impacts on fertility or soil 

 movement (e.g., McKee 

 and Lewis 1982a and b). 

 On the Francis Marion 



National Forest in South 

 Carolina, for example, 

 organic matter in surface 

 soils and growth rates of 

 trees both increased slightly 

 following well-conducted 

 burning (Cooper 1973). 

 Prescribed burning for 

 seedbed preparation, fol- 

 lowed by clearcutting, also 

 resulted in less runoff and 

 streamflows than reported 

 for mechanical means of 

 site preparation (Douglas 

 and others 1982). 



The value of prescribed fire 

 for improving forage for 

 livestock in the coastal 

 plain of the South has been 

 supported by many obser- 

 vations and studies follow- 

 ing the early work at McNeill, 

 MS (Wahlenberg and Reed 

 1939). In a series of studies 

 in Georgia, H.H. Biswell 

 and coworkers demonstrat- 

 ed that fire was a necessity 

 for improvement of forest 

 ranges and beef cattle 

 production. The benefits of 

 prescribed burning for 

 livestock production in 

 other parts of the South 

 were subsequently de- 

 scribed by other well-known 

 range scientists such as 

 R.S. Campbell, J.T. Cassidy, 

 LK. Halls, B.L Bouthwell, 

 and W.O. Shepherd. Other 



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