Not slash and burn✨

Known as "prescribed burns" or "cultural fires", these intentionally started, controlled fires have received growing attention in recent years, as a way to clear dry undergrowth that can build up and fuel huge wildfires. 

One 2024 review suggests that prescribed burning can reduce the severity of wildfires between 62% and 72% relative to untreated areas. 

However, the idea of prescribed burns is not new. Indigenous communities long used "cultural fires" to remove old grass and support new growth. In addition, controlled fires may also help create a healthy ecosystem for cranes and other species by creating open habitats.

"Grasslands are one of the most endangered ecosystems globally, with research showing a 60% decrease in grassland biodiversity since the 1970s," says Amanda Hefner, education manager at Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary. "So the best way we can make sure that the grasslands stay grasslands, is by making sure that we're using tools to keep it in that habitat —tools like prescribed fires."

This allows for "nutrient cycling", adds Hefner. Wildfires are often highly intense burns that strip the land of nutrients, while low intensity, prescribed burns can clear fuel leaving nitrogen, minerals found in ash, and partially burned, decomposing biological material, increasing nutrients in the soil soon after a burn. With the litter being cleared, there is now room for new, more nutritional growth.