Washington County Conservation District

2898 Point Circle #2

Fayetteville, AR 72704

To contact us:

Phone: (479)442-4160 ext. 3

Fax: (479)444-8726

E-mail: casey.dunigan@ar.nacdnet.net

Safe and effective prescribed burning

    The Arkansas Prescribed Fire Council (APFC) established an online database at www.arfiredb.com to help forest landowners find prescribed fire vendors and assist prescribed fire vendors in locating landowners more efficiently. The benefits of using prescribed fire on forestland include hazardous fuel reduction, planting and regeneration, vegetation control, insect and disease control, and wildlife habitat improvement.

    This site links landowners who are interested in prescribed burns on their land with contractors who can safely and correctly perform prescribed burns. Information on the benefits of prescribed burning is available on the Council's site at www.arfirenetwork.org.

Landowners in need of burning assistance should go to the www.arfiredb.com site and register as a user. Once registered, users can log in and add contact information and property's burn unit information. Foresters or vendors who are interested in conducting prescribed burns for landowners in Arkansas, can register on the same site and then work with the APFC to help build a vendor service profile.

   Please note that APFC does not endorse any particular vendor once they have met the minimum requirements, and APFC is not responsible for any liability that may arise from a transaction between a landowner and a vendor.

   Started in 1997 by natural resource managers across the state, the Arkansas Prescribed Fire Council promotes the benefits of prescribed fire. The committee’s first product was the Prescribed Fire School, held each year to educate state and federal agency personnel on the use and benefits of prescribed fire on the landscape. After 13 years, participants now include non-government. Additional projects include workshops and demonstrations for forest landowners.

   APFC-member agencies and organizations include the Arkansas Forestry Commission, Arkansas Forestry Association, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, National, Weather Service, The Nature Conservancy, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and University of Arkansas at Monticello, among many others.

Arkansas’s Fire History

   Accounts from early explorers and detailed data from Government Land Office surveys typically describe much of Arkansas—before extensive European settlement—as grassy open woodlands with abundant wildflowers and numerous prairies and barrens. Today, most of Arkansas looks quite different. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, the state’s forests were heavily cut. Faced with a stripped landscape, people realized what had been lost and took measures that seemed logical at the time; the forests were allowed to grow and fires were largely suppressed.

    Within the last 10-15 years, carefully managed prescribed fires have been re-introduced in select areas by state, federal, and non-government entities in an effort to maintain/restore Arkansas’s plant and animal health and diversity. Now rare, an importance has been placed on pockets of forest and grassland ecosystem that resemble conditions more common in the 19th century. More recently, these efforts have been extended to include privately owned lands in Arkansas.