Fire in North American Wetland Ecosystems and Fire-Wildlife Relations: An Annotated Bibliography

74. Folk, R. H., III, and C. W. Bates. 1982. An evaluation of wildlife mortality 
         resulting from aerial ignition prescribed burning. Proc. Annu. Conf. 
         Southeast. Assoc. Fish Wildl. Agencies 36:643-646.

Aerial ignition (from helicopters) of 90 ha of pine, pine-hardwood, and hardwood drains and ponds in the lower South Carolina Coastal Plain was evaluated for mortality attributable to the simultaneous burning of the entire tract. Many representatives of several species were observed both before and after the burn, but only one vertebrate, an eastern mud turtle which was unable to burrow into hard ground when overtaken by the flames, was found dead. Based upon the conclusion that the wildlife population of the area was typical, it was concluded that properly executed aerial ignition burns on the Coastal Plain do not cause significant direct mortality of wildlife. [K-L-S]

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