Wildfire Severity to Valued Resources Mitigated by Prescribed Fire in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

Prescribed fire significantly reduces wildfire severity, particularly within two years post-treatment, with reductions of up to 88% observed. This study, focusing on the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, demonstrates that frequent prescribed fire (every one to two years) effectively mitigates damage to highly valued resources and assets (HVRAs), including vegetation classes like Introduced Upland Vegetation-Shrub, Eastern Floodplain Forests, and Longleaf Pine Woodland, as well as ecologically important red-cockaded woodpecker nesting sites. The research quantified wildfire severity using the differenced normalized burn ratio (dNBR) index and employed a generalized additive model (GAM) to analyze data from the 2017 West Mims wildfire event, comparing prescribed-fire treated and untreated areas.

Ross, C. W., Loudermilk, E. L., O’Brien, J. J., Flanagan, S. A., Snitker, G., & Hiers, J. K. (2024). Wildfire Severity to Valued Resources Mitigated by Prescribed Fire in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Remote Sensing, 16(24), 4708. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16244708