What is it?

Forest fire management includes implementing prescribed fire, wildfire control, and fireline construction, and fireline maintenance strategies.

Conservation Benefits

• Reduces the amont of habitat and vegetation lost during harvesting processes
• Reduces amount of erosion at sites

What does it include?

See Fire Management (prescribed fire) for more BMP recommendations

The following recommendations were taken from the Texas Forestry Best Management Practices Handbook produced by the Texas Forestry Association and Texas Forest Service.

Prescribed Fire

• Site prep burns on steep slopes or highly erodible soils should only be conducted when they are absolutely necessary and should maintain the duff layer.
• A significant amount of soil movement can be caused by the preparation for the burns, i.e., firebreaks. Firebreaks should have water control structures to minimize erosion. These structures should not discharge within 50 feet of a
  stream bed or channel.
• Any prescribed burning within the SMZ should be done at a low intensity to reduce the potential of soil movement and maintain the filtering capacity of the SMZ.

Wildfire Control and Reclamation

• The first and foremost concern in wildfire control is to prevent damage to people and property. During wildfire suppression, fireline BMPs which slow containment efforts must take a lower priority than fire suppression. Potential problems should, however, be corrected as soon as possible and when practical.
• Actively eroding gullies should be stabilized when possible.
• Stabilize and revegetate firelines, if needed, on grades in excess of 5% or areas subject to accelerated erosion or known sensitive areas.
• Ensure that all road surfaces are left stabilized and protected.

Fireline Construction and Maintenance

• Firelines should be constructed on the perimeter of the burn area and along the boundary of the SMZ. The purpose of protecting the SMZ from fire is to safeguard the filtering effects of the litter and organic matter.
• Firelines should follow the guidelines established for logging trails and skid trails with respect to waterbars and wing ditches, and should be only as wide and as deep as needed to permit safe site preparation burns.
• Firelines which would cross a drainage should be turned parallel to the tream or have a wing ditch or other structure allowing runoff in the line to be dispersed rather than channeled directly into the stream
• Firelanes on highly erodible sites or other problem areas should be inspected periodically to correct erosion problems by installing dips, wing ditches, waterbars, etc., and/or by seeding.
  .Mowing, rather than blading, should be used to maintain firelanes in order to avoid exposing mineral soil to potential erosion. When blading is necessary, every effort should be made to minimize exposure of the mineral soil