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Perceptions of Private Forest Owners in West Virginia on the Use of Prescribed Fire in Forestry

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Abstract

Prescribed fire is the controlled application of fire to accomplish planned land management objectives. Public acceptance of prescribed fire varies in different parts of the world, and is little known in the state of West Virginia, USA. West Virginia is about 80% forested, and most of the forest land is in private ownership. Further, the region is home to oak (Quercus spp.), a possibly fire-dependent and highly valuable genus. Due to real and perceived risks associated with prescribed fires, it was hypothesized that forest owners are unwilling to accept the use of prescribed fire as a forest management option, even for the regeneration of oak. Non-industrial private forest owners in West Virginia were surveyed to shed light on their attitudes and opinions regarding the use of prescribed fire as a forest management tool. Contrary to the hypothesis, 64% of the responding owners were supportive of the use of prescribed fire. Acceptance was related to knowledge of prescribed fires or of firefighters. Major concerns included personal and property safety and being informed prior to burning. Therefore, while acceptance of prescribed fires among forest owners is high, timely notification can ensure further and, likely, increased, cooperation from the landowners.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express appreciation to Charlie Murphy, Tom Schuler, Roger Ozburn, Nancy Pollack, and Rick Williams for contributing to the development of the questionnaire. Thanks go to Kofi Nkansah and Jingxin Wang for providing questionnaire reviews. Rebecca Junod and Katie McKeever provided initial data summaries. Steve Harrison provided encouragement and valuable comments in a pre-submission review. We thank three anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions for manuscript improvement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, PO Box 6125, Morgantown, WV, 26501, USA

    Kathryn B. Piatek & David W. McGill

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  1. Kathryn B. Piatek
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  2. David W. McGill
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Correspondence to Kathryn B. Piatek.

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Piatek, K.B., McGill, D.W. Perceptions of Private Forest Owners in West Virginia on the Use of Prescribed Fire in Forestry. Small-scale Forestry 9, 227–241 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-010-9112-4

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