Conducting Prescribed Fires

Landowners and managers, municipalities, the logging and livestock industries, and conservation professionals all increasingly recognize that setting prescribed fires may reduce the devastating effects of wildfire, control invasive brush and weeds, improve livestock range and health, maintain wildlife habitat, control parasites, manage forest lands, remove hazardous fuel in the wildland-urban interface, and create residential buffer zones. In this practical and helpful manual, John R. Weir, who has conducted more than 720 burns in four states, offers a step-by-step guide to the systematic application of burning to meet specific land management needs and goals. ". . . a much needed comprehensive manual about the art and science of applying fire to the land for management purposes. John Weir has had many years of experience in conducting prescribed burns in a variety of fuel types. His extensive experience and sage wisdom about burning clearly set this book apart from other textbooks on fire ecology. Experienced practitioners as well as neophytes in the field will benefit from reading this book." --Ron Masters, Director of Research, Tall Timbers Research Station

"Covering more than the basic elements of conducting prescribed fire, the book provides insight into a wide range of elements that influence the application of prescribed fire law and policy, liability, and public relations among them. In the years ahead, this book will prove to be an essential addition to any wild land manager's actively used reference collection."--Dave Engle, department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University

". . . Weir takes this big-picture approach and thoughtfully addresses virtually every facet of prescribed-fire management, and the safety of the public and those on the fire line is a common thread throughout." - Ray Guse, Prescribed Fire Specialist, Rangelands

JOHN R. WEIR is a research associate at Oklahoma State University, where he teaches courses on conducting prescribed fires and holds workshops on this subject for government and other agencies, including The Nature Conservancy and the US Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service.