A new study shows prescribed burns both greatly diminish the possibility of high-intensity wildfires on that same landscape and reduce the amount of toxic smoke down the road. Groups like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Hunt 2 Conserve support the use of prescribed burning and other treatments to enhance wildlife habitat while improving forest health and public safety.
“The benefit you get is pretty dramatic,” Marshall Burke, co-author and professor at Stanford University’s Global Environmental Policy program, told the Washington Post. “We estimate that if you did a prescribed burn today, the likelihood that you would get extreme wildfire in that area where you burned tomorrow is down by about 90 percent. That is a really dramatic reduction in the probability of extreme fire.”
According to the study, prescribed fire reduced the risk of wildfires by about 53 percent. Researchers say if California applied prescribed fire across half a million acres in one year, long-term exposure to smoke would drop by 10 percent over one decade. There are also spillover benefits.
“So, if I burn in my yard, it not only benefits me. It also benefits you, my neighbor, because if a fire blows through my yard and it burns at lower severity, that means you’re less likely to burn,” Burke told the Washington Post.
Arid weather conditions and heavy fuel loads are feeding wildfires in 2026. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, through the first seven months of 2026, 43,145 fires burned more than 4.5 million acres across the United States. That annual total is highest since 5.5 million acres burned in 2022, which was the largest number of single-year acres that burned over the last decade. And those high-intensity fires claim human life, destroy homes, threaten public safety, decimate wildlife habitat and release massive amounts of lung-choking smoke into the atmosphere.
The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Forest Service treated nearly two million acres with prescribe fire in 2026. Click here to view a series of a dozen independent research that highlights the benefits of prescribed burns and similar treatments.
About Hunt 2 Conserve
Hunt 2 Conserve is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Its mission is to advance a legacy of hunting and conservation by educating, activating and developing stewards and defenders of these fundamentally American ideals. For more information, go to hunt2conserve.org.
(Photo credit: InciWeb)
