to successfully reintroduce native plants in all of the physiographic regions , more frequent prescribed burning could take place . Prescribed Fire Management Practice 1 : Prescribed fires should only be considered for ecological management . Prescribed fire is a useful management tool to maintain fire-dependent ecosystems and restore those that are out of balance ( USFS , 2006 ). Additionally , prescribed fire can be used to eliminate invasive plant species to some extent . It is in the best interest of Metro Parks and Recreation to limit all prescribed fire events to instances where burning will maintain or improve existing ecosystems .
Prescribed Fire Management Practice 2 : Require mandatory ' Prescribed Burn Plans ' for every prescribed fire event . Prescribed Burn Plans , already a Metro Parks and Recreation practice ( Appendix 2 ), are a crucial planning step to organizing a needed prescribed fire event . By requiring Prescribed Burn Plans , fire managers will be required to consider fuel load , weather conditions , the number and training of fire crew , and negative air quality effects caused by the fire . All plans must contain the following elements :
1 . Location Description |
9 . Predicted Fire Behavior ( modeled ) |
2 . Sources of Emergency Assistance |
10 . Fire Behavior Narrative |
3 . Permits and Official Notifications |
11 . Crew Organization |
4 . Neighbor / Park Users Notifications |
12 . Equipment |
5 . Fire Unit Description |
13 . Estimated Burn Duration |
6 . Detailed Maps : Site Location and Fuels Map |
14 . Burn Management |
7 . Prescribed Burn Justification |
15 . Documentation ( checklists ) |
8 . Fuel and Weather Prescriptions |
16 . Air Pollution Control District Open |
Burning Application |
Prescribed Fire Management Practice 3 : Parks will collaborate with other agencies to ensure the safety of rare and threatened species during prescribed burn events . Using the newly established Rare and Threatened Species and Ecosystems GIS , Fire Leaders will be required to notify the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission if any planned burn will infringe on or cause damage to the habitats of rare and threatened species or the ecosystems themselves .
Prescribed Fire Management Practice 4 : Modeled fire behavior will be derived from scientifically-based fire models . In the 2004 Iroquois Park burn , the BEHAVE fire prediction model was used ( Figure 4 ). It has since been replaced by BEHAVE Plus ( USFS , 2005 .). BEHAVE Plus can now be run on a windows environment and includes 40 new sub-categories of fuels , allows fire managers to manually adjust wind factors , and is capable of modeling crown fuels . It is recommended for Parks Fire Managers to consider upgrading their current fire prediction modeling to the free-to-download BEHAVE Plus ( fire . org , 2007 ).
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