Prescribed fire in fire-prone landscapes: tickling the dragon's tail

The important forest understory layer is where leaf and woody litters accumulate, decompose, and provide components that enhance soil fertility and future tree growth; where intact litter provides cover habitat for some faunal species; and where the food chains of some vertebrate wildlife species originate. Fire, including prescribed fire, if of moderate or high severity, can adversely affect all those processes. While prescribed fire is a useful tree culture tool in habitats where low intensity surface fires can be controlled, prescribed fire can be a substantial environmental risk when used in fire-prone landscapes where surface fires may become severe and difficult to control.