Fire plays many roles in the ecological schemes of things and has been a major force on our plant for millions of years. Fires opens the canopy of the forest allowing a healthy sub-canopy. The sub-canopy provides food and habitat for forest birds, mammals, and insects. Fire creates and maintains open areas needed by animals large and small. Fire thins the doghair stands allowing the remaining seedlings the space to grow.

People have only recently recognized the importance of fire in maintaining healthy ecosystems. More than 100 years of fire suppression have resulted in heavy build-ups of dead vegetation and dense stands of trees. Because of these conditions, today’s wildlife tend to be larger, burn otter, and spread faster and farther. This makes them more severe, more dangerous, and more costly in human, economic, and ecological terms.

Today in Wind Cave National Park, wildfires are suppressed. The park uses a prescribed fire program to stimulate the natural fires needed to maintain a healthy habitat and reduce the expansion of the ponderosa pine forest.