Research Report: Preventing Wildfires

May 23, 2007

University of Florida researchers may have found a way to prevent big wildfires in the future, produce cleaner energy, and even slow the pace of global warming. Experts say too many invasive hardwood trees are crowding the southeast coast’s pine tree population, creating more fuel for fires and making them much harder to fight. So, UF botany researcher Jack Putz says cut them down.

Putz: “We’ve demonstrated that it’s cost-effective to use a combination of forest products to pay for restoration and in those restored eco-systems, the canopy is more open, the fires don’t move from tree to tree, they move along the ground and they’re easy to suppress.”

The study recommends cutting down those hardwoods and selling the wood chips for use in biomass fuel. Results suggest that would restore a healthier pine forest less prone to out-of-control fires.

Putz: “We’re using the chips from the hardwoods and the too densely placed pines to generate electricity, paying for their removal, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and providing opportunities for the species that are losing out when forests encroach on formerly open woodlands and savannahs.”

Experts say that’s a win-win for landowners and the environment.