Restoring a Forest with Controlled Burns

People are setting fire to pine forests in North Carolina to help protect an endangered woodpecker, and many other creatures as well. These long-leaf pine ecosystems thrive under regular, low-intensity fires. It’s not just the woodpecker that benefits — the entire ecosystem relies on these disturbances to keep low-level brush clear, and the larger pine trees have evolved a resistance to help beat the heat.

Scientists and volunteers have taken to sparking these controlled burns in order to restore and rejuvenate the surrounding forest. The work takes careful planning, but when communities rally together, the efforts to save their local wilderness are well-within reach.