The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) and the Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils (CPFC) worked collaboratively to produce the 2021 National Prescribed Fire Use Report.
Since 2011, the two organizations have partnered to prepare reports (in 2012, 2015, and 2018, and 2020) on prescribed fire activity, state-level programs, and barriers to prescribed fire implementation. These reports remain the only fire surveys that assimilate state forestry agencies’ fire intelligence for use among the prescribed fire community.
For the first time, this year’s report includes federal land management agency data. Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of the Interior voluntarily provided 2020 prescribed fire activities by state on federal lands, which allows their data to be easily compared at the national and regional scales. The addition of federal activity does not increase 2020 prescribed fire activity over previous years, as states have always reported federal acres on their annual accounting. However, for the first time, this report now shows acres treated by ownership type.
This year’s survey results revealed 9.4 million acres were treated with prescribed fire in 2020. Although this represents an acreage decrease from 2019, it is the second highest number reported in survey history. The Southeast region continues to lead the nation in annual acres treated with prescribed fire, followed by the West and Northeast-Midwest.
Click below to read the report in full.