Controlled Burns for Private Lands?

Study finds that landowners are open to prescribed burns
Jeff Mulhollem
image of prescribed burn on Cape Cod
Joel Carlson

Conservation professionals in Pennsylvania have been using controlled burns to help manage state-owned forests for more than a decade. Prescribed burning can promote fire-loving tree species such as oaks, suppress invasive plants, and even reduce tick populations. New research by Penn State scientists suggests that owners of private lands in the state are open to using prescribed burns, and many are willing to pay for such management.