WESTERN CAROLINA QUALITY DEER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
Wildlife Habitat Management Inspired by Science

Prescribed Fire

Why is prescribed fire a good tool for quality deer management?

1. As browse plants get older they become tough and lose their nutritional value. The most nutritional part of plants that are browsed on by deer and other animals is the new growth that is found on the tips of mature plants in the spring or in the new growth found on plants emerging from the soil. Controlled fire burns mature plants back to ground level. When they re-emerge from the soil and start growing again the tender new sprouts provide much more nutritional browse for deer and rabbits than older plants.
2. Un-managed wildlife habitat grows through a succession of stages. The early stages of wildlife habitat succession, when grasses and forbs are the dominant plants, provide better food and cover for deer, rabbits, and many other species of animals and birds that are classified as “early succession species”. As habitat matures over time, small trees and shrubs take over the landscape. Eventually the habitat develops into mature forest with large trees. Prescribed fire can set back the habitat succession stage and prevent it from developing into mature forest habitat that is less desirable for deer.
3. Fire consumes plant matter and releases nutrients that provide a stimulus for new plants to grow and increase the production of forage plants.
4. Many native ecosystems are adapted to fire. Prescribed burning kills plants that are not adapted to fire and allows native grasses and forbs that are adapted to fire to re-establish.
5. Prescribed fire reduces fuel that builds up from falling limbs, leaves, and understory growth reducing the frequency and severity of wild fires.
6. Prescribed burning helps to control diseases and insects that impact timber productivity.
7. Prescribed fire is used for site preparation to prepare for planting or natural revegetation.
   

Before you burn contact the North Carolina Forest Service to obtain a burning permit. Talk to your local or district wildlife biologist, they will visit the site and give you a ton of information concerning the benefits of burning for wildlife.