(WKYT) – Kentucky’s forest fire season started Oct. 1, but not all burns seen in the region are forest fires.
Eastern Kentucky University has begun planning for its annual prescribed burns, which help local ecology.
How EKU plans the burns
Eastern Kentucky University conducts controlled burns annually on specific areas that it owns. The area is called the prescription. Lawfully conducting prescription burns takes multiple months of planning and communication with the Kentucky Department of Forestry and local emergency services.
David Brown, interim director of the Division of Natural Areas at EKU, said the first step is identifying where to implement the burn and determining objectives, whether they involve wildlife or vegetation control.
“The first step in the process is identifying where you want to implement it and what your objectives are whether they’re wildlife objectives or vegetation control objectives and then you prepare the unit by creating fire breaks on the outside of it so that the fire stays contained within that unit that area that you want to burn,” Brown said.
EKU also directly reaches out to nearby residential areas, businesses and local emergency services to keep people aware of upcoming burn dates.
Why EKU conducts the burns
One of the major reasons for conducting the burns is to mimic natural disturbances that native species would usually experience, Brown said.
“It mimics natural disturbances so in our natural landscape, historically fire was part of the natural ecological processes, and in recent decades is less fire that less kind of natural disturbances to knock back and affect vegetation so by introducing fire, we’re kind of re-creating these processes that many species have evolved and adapted to need,” Brown said.
Brush and woodland areas are the types of areas where EKU will conduct a burn once winter approaches.