Longleaf pine restoration in context: Comparisons of frequent fire forests

To see a frequent-fire forest burn for the first time is to experience a remarkable feat of nature. Most people are accustomed to the slow change of forests with the seasons, not the instantaneous conversion of green and brown plant mass to smoke and char. Yet to visit such a forest a week after it burns is to see bright green shoots emerging, highlighted against a background of charcoal. Frequent-fire forests, or forests that regularly experience low-intensity/low-severity fires, although surprisingly common, challenge commonly held notions about what forests are and how they function. They are found in North and Central America including the Caribbean basin and U.S. landscapes such as the upper Midwest, the central hardwoods area, the Rocky Mountains, the Intermountain West, the eastern Cascades range in the Pacific Northwest, and the southeastern Coastal Plain. Despite their drastic differences in range, ecology, anthropogenic alterations, and conservation challenges, these forests share many similarities.