File:Fires in the Ouachita Mountains (MODIS 2020-12-14).jpg

English: Several fires were burning in Ouachita Mountains in early December 2020. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of smoke and fire on December 10.

Each red “hot spot” marks an area where the thermal band on the MODIS instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hot spots mark actively burning fire. Hot spots can be seen in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma. Oklahoma sits in the upper left section of the image and Arkansas in the upper right. Copious smoke rises from two large hot spots in Oklahoma while smaller amounts of smoke (easily visible in the high resolution 250 km image) also rise from the smaller fires in both states. Most of these fires are located in the Ouachita National Forest, a large expanse of forest that covers more than 1.8 million acres of land across Arkansas and Oklahoma.

While it is not possible to know the cause of a blaze from a satellite image, the location and time of year suggest that these are prescribed burns. Forest managers use fire as a tool to help renew and restore forest, to reduce fuel loads, to prevent the risk of destructive wildfire, and to improve habitat. Prescribed burns are key tools in restoration and management of native stands of southern pines in the southern United States.

In the Ouachita Mountains, fire is widely used to restore habitat for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker – a bird that needs open pinelands to survive. This cardinal-sized woodpecker was once commonly found in open pine forests from southern New Jersey to eastern Texas. When longleaf pine forests measured 90 million acres, they supported an estimated population of 1 to 1.6 million nesting groups (parent birds and young that stay to help raise the next hatch). As pine forests were decimated for wood and turpentine, the red-cockaded numbers tumbled. Despite years of intense restorative effort, today populations hover at only about 14,000 birds. Restoration of this species isn’t just for the birds, however — the birds play a vital role in the entire southern pine ecosystem. The red-cockaded woodpecker drills nest holes in living trees, a job that may take an individual bird from one to six years. Such “primary” cavity nesters are rare, but many “secondary” cavity nesters depend on abandoned woodpecker holes to survive. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, at least 27 species of vertebrates have been documented using red-cockaded woodpecker cavities, either for roosting or nesting. Species include insects, birds, snakes, lizards, squirrels, and frogs.

On December 10, the US Forest Service – Ouachita National Forest posted notice for the following prescribed burns on their Facebook page: “Poteau-Cold Springs District is burning 7 stands for a total of 186 acres in Scott County near Waldron. The Jessieville-Winona-Fourche District is conducting a small burn of 85 acres near Danville in Yell County. Mena-Oden is burning 198 acres for the Washita Site Preps in Montgomery County near Washita. And the Oklahoma District burn is the Buck Creek burn in McCurtain County; this 690-acre burn is close to Smithville.”