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National Fire Plan Success Story

National Park Service Implements Prescribed Fire in Rare Mountain Long Leaf Pine Ecosystem Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Alabama
National Fire Plan - Fuels Reduction

Picture of prescribed burning operations at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park.
Ignition operations underway at Horseshoe Bend NMP. Photo by Lisa McInnis, NPS Fire Ecologist.

Picture of two firefighters discussing ignition tactics on the fire line.
Communicating ignition tactics on the fire line. Photo by Lisa McInnis, NPS Fire Ecologist.

Picture of prescribed fire burning on the forest floor.
Holding actions on the fire line. Photo by Lisa McInnis, NPS Fire Ecologist.

National Park Service firefighters from Horseshoe Bend National Military Park (NMP), Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gulf Islands National Seashore, and Natchez Trace Parkway met in Alabama at Horseshoe Bend NMP to implement a prescribed burn in rare mountain long leaf pine habitat. Long leaf pine once occupied over 92 million acres in the southeastern United States, today, it is believed that perhaps only 3 million acres remain. Most long leaf pine forests are found on the coastal plain. Remnant isolated patches of mountain long leaf pine can be found in the mountains of Alabama and Georgia with Horseshoe Bend NMP being the site of one of these remnant populations. As such, National Park Service staff and interested researchers from the University of Alabama have teamed up in an effort to return fire to this rare ecosystem.

On January 30, 2007, the Great Smoky Mountains Fire Use Module coordinated the implementation of the second prescribed fire to be conducted in this unique habitat at Horseshoe Bend NMP. The burn encompassed 158 acres, and is the first of a series of prescribed fires planned for the park this year. Years of fire suppression and fire exclusion have created fuel loading conditions, which not only threaten park infrastructure and neighbors, but also the health and survival of this unique forest habitat. Prescribed burning will reduce heavy accumulations of dead and down matter, open the under-story, and provide a receptive seed bed for pine regeneration.

Contact: David Loveland, Great Smoky Mountains Fire Use Module
Phone: (865) 436-1711