The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) and the Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils (CPFC) have released the 2021 National Prescribed Fire Use Report, “which for the first time shows acres treated by ownership type, revealed 1.5 million acres treated with prescribed fire on federal lands while nearly 8 million acres were treated on state and private lands in 2020. This indicates that 84% of all prescribed fire in the country occurred on state and private lands.”
“Collectively, federal land management agencies reported forestry and rangeland prescribed fire activity in 2020 on 62,633 acres in the Northeast-Midwest, 1,053,871 acres in the Southeast, and 355,352 acres in the West.”
A chart and data show that nearly 87% of USFS acres burned were in the Southeast. That doesn’t sound right to me, but may it is.
From the conclusion: “…the national prescribed fire program has many impediments to overcome. In order to sustain the current number of acres treated each year—and certainly to increase the pace and scale of prescribed fire use nationwide—capacity deficits, liability concerns, smoke emissions, and other obstacles must be addressed in meaningful ways.”
Here are some similar numbers we looked at earlier: https://forestpolicypub.com/2022/03/30/across-fs-in-2021-prescribed-and-beneficial-fire-produced-67-of-total-fuels-reduction-ee-news-story/
“In the South, the Forest Service said, a lack of snow as well as intermittent drying between rains makes favorable conditions for prescribed fire. Forests there grow fast and need treatment every few years, the agency said.”
That could lead to less public resistance, especially if their story of escaped fires is better.
I worked for three weeks on the De Soto NF, in southern Mississippi, and their PB program was very robust. I was able to witness these fires, burning unattended, and creeping around in a textbook manner. When the humidity goes down, or the winds come up, they go out and manage their burns, or put them out.