Fort Stewart’s Forestry Branch is continuing its most recent controlled burn season, which began in November.  
Controlled burning is a managed burn that uses fire, foresters say, to improve the Army’s training grounds, to clear underbrush thereby reducing wildfire hazards, to improve wildlife habitat and as a tool to accomplish management objectives.   
Foresters say the burns are ecologically favorable for perpetuating fire-dependent plant and animal species, maintaining fire dependent communities and assisting in control or elimination of growth of certain pathogens that infest pines and other species.  
Fort Stewart foresters say they do everything they can to manage smoke effects from these burns and to ensure the safety of residents in and around the installation.  
However, there are uncontrollable conditions, such as changes in wind directions and strength that cause smoke to blow into surrounding neighborhoods or highways. For this reason, the forestry branch asks residents to not only be aware of the burn season, but to also use extra caution when traveling through areas where smoke may be present.
The forestry branch develops prescriptions for each area that will be burned. These burns can cover 500 to 2,500 acres per day and may occur on any day during the burn season. The dates of each burn are only estimates as they are dependent upon weather conditions as well as access to military training areas.  
During a burn, foresters monitor weather via the Charleston National Weather Station, Georgia Forestry Commission, five local remote access weather stations across Fort Stewart and observation from at least two of the five fire towers on the installation.