PICKENS COUNTY — The 2022 South Carolina Prescribed Fire Council Annual Meeting will be held Sept. 7-8 in the Clemson area.
“This will be our 19th year since the S.C. Prescribed Fire Council began, and our meetings have over the years increasingly attracted a broader audience, which is one of our main aims,” said Johnny Stowe, S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Heritage Preserve manager and a past president of the Prescribed Fire Council. “This year one of our main speakers is Professor Michael Stambaugh, a world-class researcher who will talk about his specialty, dendrochronology, the stories laid down in the rings of old trees, including detailed fire histories. Dr. Stambaugh’s research is fascinating, as well as being very useful to land managers like me who depend on such knowledge to guide our restoration of firelands.”
To register, visit www.SCPFC2022.eventbrite.com. For additional information, contact T.J. Savereno at asavere@clemson.edu or Derrick Phinney at dphinne@clemson.edu.
The field tour will be on Wednesday, Sept. 7, and the classroom session will be on Thursday, Sept. 8. There will also be a social following the field tour at the Pickens Bend Shooting Range in Pendleton.
On Day 1, participants will learn about prescribed fire programs in the South Carolina mountains. At Table Rock State Park, the importance of partnerships to implement prescribed burning in the South Carolina mountain state parks will be discussed. Participants will look at multiple burn units in the park and briefly discuss the Pinnacle Mountain Wildfire. There will also be a stop to explore an oak woodland restoration site that has undergone multiple treatments including prescribed fire.
A social will follow the field tour at Pickens Bend Shooting Range in Pendleton.
For Day 2 on Sept. 8, the classroom portion will be held at T. Ed Garrison Arena in Pendleton. Topics to cover will include Clemson University’s student burn crew, the Fire Tigers, dendrochronology and prescribed fire history, Conservation Legacy Fire Corps, seasonality of prescribed fire in the mountains, duff fires and delayed mortality, ruffed grouse and fire, role of cooperative extension in prescribed fire education, the impact of young longleaf on fire behavior, prescribed burning and climate change, prescribed burn associations and awards.
Formed in 2003, the S.C. Prescribed Fire Council is comprised of individuals representing public agencies, including SCDNR, non-governmental organizations and private landowners who use prescribed fire to manage their lands. Council members promote prescribed burning by emphasizing the important role fire plays in the stewardship of the state’s natural resources and by fostering professionalism among practitioners of prescribed burning.