MISSION STATEMENT To facilitate communication between landowners and service providers, to provide reliable and consistent information on the tools and use of prescribed fire, and to provide a forum for the discussion of issues regarding prescribed fire in Arkansas.
Prescribed burning reintroduces a natural process that stimulates food and cover amount other benefits to which most of Arkansas's wildlife are adapted.
Researchers are only just beginning to understand how fire and smoke can help control certain plan and animal insects and diseases in a natural ecosystem.
The Arkansas Prescribed Fire Network is a cooperative project of the Arkansas Prescribed Fire Council. The purpose of the Network is to provide accurate information on the use and benefits of prescribed fire in Arkansas, provide a place where people can come to find information, post photos, learn about training and equipment locations, and find help getting their own prescribed fires accomplished safely and effectively.
The Arkansas Prescribed Fire Council (APFC) was started in 1997 as the Arkansas Prescribed Fire Committee by natural resource managers across the state to promote the benefits of prescribed fire to agency personnel and citizens. The first product of this committee was the Prescribed Fire as a Management Tool Workshop which is held once a year to educate state and federal agency personnel on the use and benefits of prescribed fire on the landscape. Over a decade later, participants now include non-government personnel and a few private landowners for a week’s worth of education and on-the-ground training and experience using prescribed fire in Arkansas.
The Arkansas Prescribed Fire Council is trying help both landowners find prescribed fire vendors, and also help prescribed fire vendors find landowners more efficiently. If you are a landowner in need of some burning assistance, please go to the Arkansas Prescribed Fire Services Database, then register as a user. Once registered, log in and add your contact information and your property's burn unit information. You may have multiple burn units on multiple property's, but that's ok, you will not need to resubmit any contact info.
If you are a forester/vendor who is interested in conducting prescribed burns for landowners in Arkansas, Contact Us, and the Arkansas Prescribed Fire Council will work with you to help build our vendor service profiles.
AY magazine published an article by TNC's Jay Harrod on why we burn in Arkansas
Tall Timbers Research article on fire effects on many bird species (including turkeys and quail!) in southern forests
Information about the Arkansas Field Office of The Nature Conservancy's prescribed burn season can be found on the ARFO Burn Crew Blog site.
The Nature Conservancy-Arkansas Field Office's fire restoration page contains info on how fire is being used for ecological restoration across the state.
Other Publications that can provide useful information on fire management from Arkansas and other areas of the country: