Letters to the editor:
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Burning Benefits

I read "Tree Plea" by Joe Tarr (Citybeat, Nov. 1) with curiosity. I wanted to see what new threats to the Cherokee were being suggested. It is clear that housing development and pollution have a definite impact on our natural resources here in East Tennessee. I don't agree that logging is a threat to the forest; however, that is a subject for another letter. When I got to the line "prescribed burns (which can be helpful in Western forests but not in the East)...threaten the Cherokee," I thought I had misread it. Prescribed fires are a threat? I would like to know where the National Forest Protection Alliance got their information. As a graduate student studying Forest Ecology, my research deals directly with restoring the natural disturbance regime of oak-hickory forests through prescribed burning.

Allow me to shed some light on the prospects of using prescribed fire in the East. The goals of prescribed burning are to use fire under carefully controlled conditions to sustain fire-dependent species and prevent the buildup of fuels that can lead to catastrophic wildfires—which pose the real threat to the Southern Appalachian ecosystems and society.

The next time you walk through the oak-hickory forests in East Tennessee, look up at the big oaks in the overstory and then down at the ground. You will find lots of small oak seedlings but almost a complete absence of larger, pole-sized oak saplings that are crucial for replacing the big oaks in the overstory when they die. The pole-sized saplings that you will find there are yellow-poplar, red maple, sugar maple, and American beech that can only establish when natural fire is excluded from forests. Our oak forests are not regenerating themselves, and recent studies at Clemson University have shown that prescribed fires can increase oak regeneration through repeated burns (I have the papers, if any one is interested). Prescribed burning helps reduce these competitors of oak, giving the slower growing oak seedlings more of a chance to survive into larger saplings and eventually reach maturity. These species tend to grow faster than oaks, thus outcompeting it. By removing this competition, slower growing oaks have more of a chance to make it to maturity.

Why are oaks so important? There are many reasons, including wildlife, timber and aesthetics. Should oaks be replaced by species such as maple and yellow-poplar, a critical wildlife food source will vanish. Since the American chestnut was killed off in the 1930's, oaks have become the predominant food source for wildlife such as the white-tailed deer, wild turkey, blue jays, black bears, and squirrels.

Following early European settlement, fire in forests has been perceived as the enemy. Thus, we have fought to eliminate fire from our forests. By doing this, we have eliminated a key natural process in the evolution and continued maintenance of our forests. Native Americans used fire on a regular basis to hunt, clear land, and provide grazing for animals. These fires shaped the landscape we have today. When fires were excluded from this landscape, things began to change, as is evidenced by the lack of oak regeneration we have today.

Prescribed fires are an important tool in the management and stewardship of the Cherokee National Forest and other forests in the region. They are not a threat to be feared. They are controlled, low intensity burns conducted with great care using science-based and proven techniques. Most prescribed burns never get more than 5-10 feet off the forest floor and thus leave the mature trees untouched. If anyone is interested in learning more or seeing scientific evidence of what prescribed burning can do, please contact me by email at: [email protected]. My research is funded by a wildlife federation with the goals of maintaining oaks as a critical component of wildlife habitat. Thank you for stirring debate in our community,

Samuel Jackson
Knoxville

How About Us?

Joe Sullivan's editorial concerning the plight of the arts in Knoxville [Insights, Nov. 1] proved informative and necessary in the current climate. We were disappointed, however, to note the omission of the Clarence Brown Theatre as "a source of civic pride." Granted, CBT is not in a financial crisis. In fact, our subscriptions are up 30 percent from last year, and donations remain stable. Yet by focusing the commentary exclusively on music organizations, the author fails to give readers the full picture of the arts in our community. We encourage readers to patronize our city's arts organizations in all of their diversity.

Blake Robison, artistic director
Thomas A. Cervone, managing director
Clarence Brown Theatre Company
Knoxville