A Management Guide for Invasive Plants in Southern Forests James ...

38Cultural MethodsSeveral cultural practices, including prescribed burning and water-level manipulation, can reduce or control nonnativeinvasive plant populations. However, such practices also may have undesirable impacts to soils, animal habitat, andnative species, so care in planning and enactment must be exercised.Prescribed BurningFire has played a critical and natural role in the development and maintenance of grasslands, forests, and wetlandsthroughout history. Prescribed burning is the deliberate use of fire under specified and controlled conditions to achievea resource management goal. Most States train burn specialists through a certified prescribed burn managers programand require that those who contract burning have certification for providing liability protection. Like other invasive treatments,prescribed burning requires special skills and experience, including smoke management, for effective and safeimplementation. A prescribed burning plan must include clearly stated objectives, the ignition approach, equipment andmanpower needs, and mitigation measures. Additionally, a permit is required from State or local agencies before burning.Prescribed burning for invasive plant management has advantages and disadvantages.Advantages of prescribed burning forinvasive plant control—1. Per acre, prescribed burning is one of themost inexpensive treatments.2. Top growth of herbaceous invasive plantscan be consumed and small woody plants canbe fire girdled, resulting in resprouts of lowerheights. Resprouts of trees, shrubs, and vinesthen can be more easily treated with herbicidefoliar sprays.3. Some seeds of invasive plants can beconsumed in the burn.4. Prescribed burns improve access to thetreatment site and expose hazards, such asPrivet, fire girdled.Privet respouts afterburn.stumps, sinkholes, old wells, and pits that might otherwise hinder or endanger further operations.5. Prescribed burns can clear thatch and shrubs for more effective herbicide applications.Chinese privetsprouts along root.Jane HargreavesDisadvantages of prescribed burning for invasive plant control—1. Prescribed burning requires special skills andexperience, investments in time for training andcertification, and purchase of special equipment.2. Results are variable and can be unexpected whenfire escapes.3. Abundant resprouts and seedlings of invasives alongwith native regrowth can exacerbate conditions forsubsequent treatments and jeopardize their success.4. Prescribed burns can stimulate flowering and seedingof some invasive plants, such as cogongrass, and scarifyseeds of others, such as lespedezas (Lespedeza spp.),to promote enhanced germination.5. Some invasive plants can burn extremely hot andintense, with vines creating ladder fuels, placing fireCogongrass rhizomes havecrews in jeopardy, killing or injuring desirable plants, andbeen spread by fireplows.increasing chances of fire escape.6. Litter clearing and loss of stand components like shrubscan make the site more prone for reinvasion or invasion by other species.7. Plowing fire lines can spread invasive plants and make soil susceptible to invasion and soil erosion.Japanese climbing fernburns into tree and shrubtops by fuel ladders.Chuck Bargeron