“Most people aren’t burning. They think it’s bad. They’ve been told that since they were young, going back to Smokey Bear,” said John Stivers, a licensed forester and certified burn manager with Professional Timberland Services.
He hopes to correct anti-burn attitudes with an upcoming Learn-N-Burn class and demonstration at the Potts Mountain Biological Field Station (Whitley Road South, Marble Hill).
In an interview last week, Stivers said regular controlled burns are an essential part of any land management plan with at least 15 different reasons homeowners, farm owners, property managers, and communities may benefit from professionally managed burns on their land. Emphasizing the professionally managed part, Stivers said at his burns that means “even owning the smoke.”…