Forest-management burns have been widely acknowledged as a useful land-management tool in the United States. Nevertheless, fire is inherently risky and may lead to severe damages or create smoke that affects public health. Past research has not explored the difference in policy and practice between open burns, which meet minimum legal criteria, and certified prescribed burns, which follow a higher standard of care. This study seeks to understand the distinction between legal open burns and certified prescribed burns, and, furthermore, to identify trends by type of burn in the Southeast United States. To that end, we compared statutes, regulations, incentives, and notifications of fire as a forest-management tool among nine states in the US Southeast. We found no steady time trends in number or area of burns among the states for the past decade. A nontrivial proportion of legal open burns, which tend to be smaller burns, are noncertified burns, meaning they meet minimum legal requirements, but not the higher standard required for certified prescribed burns.

中文翻译：

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美国东南部私人土地上森林管理火灾的监管和实践：合法的露天燃烧与认证的处方燃烧

在美国，森林管理燃烧已被广泛认为是一种有用的土地管理工具。然而，火灾本质上是有风险的，可能会导致严重的损害或产生影响公众健康的烟雾。过去的研究没有探讨符合最低法律标准的开放性烧伤与遵循更高护理标准的认证处方烧伤之间的政策和实践差异。本研究旨在了解合法的开放性烧伤和经认证的处方烧伤之间的区别，此外，还根据美国东南部的烧伤类型确定趋势。为此，我们比较了美国东南部九个州的法规、法规、激励措施和火灾通知作为森林管理工具。在过去十年中，我们发现各州之间的烧伤数量或面积没有稳定的时间趋势。