Natural Heritage Program Spotlight: Prescribed Burns
By Edwin Guevara, Natural Heritage Program
Imagine this: You’re on a scenic woodland hike in Maryland. Birds are chirping, squirrels are scurrying — and suddenly, you spot smoke rising from the forest. Your first instinct? Panic. Your second instinct? Call Smokey Bear. But wait — what if we told you that fire was… helping? Welcome to the world of prescribed fire, where the Maryland Department of Natural Resources literally fights fire with fire for a good cause!
Dressed in Nomex flame-resistant fashion gear, the ignition team helps start the blaze. The look includes rugged leather boots, gloves, banana yellow shirt, green pants, hard hat, and a drip torch (yes, that’s a thing). This individual is basically the firefighter’s cousin who likes planning ahead.
“The Burn Boss” in this case is not the name of a metal band — it’s the real title of the person who is responsible for ensuring all aspects of the fire operation, from planning to execution, adhere to the prescribed fire plan and safety protocols. Essentially, they are the leader and coordinator of the burn crew, overseeing the ignition, containment, and post-burn activities; they call the shots during a prescribed burn. Before lighting a single match, they study everything from fuel types (dead leaves, dry grass — forest’s version of kindling) to weather conditions, down to the breeze’s mood that day. One wrong gust, and it’s a no-go. Mother Nature gets final say!
Maryland DNR’s Wildlife and Heritage Service has many employees trained and certified as wildland firefighters. This is a useful skillset to have for two main reasons; fighting wildfires and conducting prescribed burns. In annual prescribed burns, we use fire to restore our natural areas by returning this natural process that has been removed for the past century or so through fire suppression. Fire serves many purposes, like burning off accumulated thatch and debris, which exposes soil and makes it easier for seeds to find suitable places to germinate. It also releases nitrogen into the soil, which stimulates plant growth and encourages roots to grow deeper, making plants more drought resistant. Burning also gives fire-adapted plants an advantage, as these plants are better able to utilize the increased light and resources created by the disturbance fire creates. Many of these fire-adapted plants are at a disadvantage when fire is suppressed from a natural area, so the goal is that re-introducing fire will help these Maryland native plants thrive.
In Maryland’s fire-adapted ecosystems, prescribed burning has become a vital tool for restoring and maintaining rare species habitat. Natural Heritage Program’s Restoration Ecologist Jason Harrison has been involved with prescribed fire for over two decades, and his work highlights the delicate balance between ecology, timing, and community outreach.
“Not every site has the same prescription,” Harrison explains. “We assess each area’s needs—whether it’s in a restoration phase or a maintenance phase—and develop fire plans accordingly.” At a site in the Eastern Shore, burns have been applied for over ten years, keeping the area in an open oak woodland state supporting a lush herbaceous layer of native plants. In contrast, locations that haven’t had a prescribed burn since 2016 were burned this past spring to reset succession, reducing fuel loads and fire intolerant species.
Prescribed fire does more than manage vegetation. It benefits a wide range of rare species that thrive in open, sunny habitats—conditions fire helps create and maintain. A notable example comes from Furnace Town Dunes, where DNR is managing the sundial lupine (Lupinus perennis) and yellow wild indigo (Baptisia tinctoria) populations to support the frosted elfin butterfly (Callophrys irus), a state-endangered species. “The lupine and indigo respond particularly well to fire, often producing more robust flowering plants and higher stem densities, which helps the butterflies,” says Harrison.
Frosted elfin butterfly (Callophrys irus)
Prescribed burns also offer hidden benefits, such as reducing tick populations and lowering the risk of dangerous wildfires. A past wildfire at Soldiers Delight underscored the importance of proactive burning. “That fire did more ecologically than we could have accomplished in years of prescribed burns,” says Harrison. “But it also showed the risks of unmanaged fuel accumulation.”
As DNR expands its capacity to conduct burns and educates the public about their necessity, the hope is to restore balance to fire-starved landscapes—ensuring that Maryland’s rarest species and habitats not only survive but thrive.
A burn crew listens to a safety briefing and goes over the prescribed burn plan at the staging area.
Prescribed burn in progress.
Sundial lupine Photo: Jason Harrison
