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Wild Boar Activity Was Lower in Alabama Forest Stands Burned Every Three Years

Invasive feral hog standing in dense vegetation in the southeastern United States
Research · Ecology

A study in William B. Bankhead National Forest in Alabama, USA found that signs of activity by wild boar (Sus scrofa) were much more frequent in unburned forest stands than in stands managed with prescribed fire every three years. The researchers examined habitat use in the Black Warrior Wildlife Management Area and around the Sipsey Wilderness, where wild boar are an invasive species.

A transect is a predefined line or route used to survey an area systematically, with observations, signs or sampling points recorded along it.

From 2014 to 2016, the team surveyed 17 forest stands—eight on a three-year dormant-season prescribed-burn schedule and nine unburned stands. They completed 68 strip-transect surveys and recorded signs such as rooting, wallows, trails, tracks, rubs, tusking and scat as indicators of wild-boar activity and habitat use. The study did not estimate population size.

Wild-boar activity was much lower in burned stands

Wild-boar sign was detected in 29 of 36 surveys in unburned stands, compared with 6 of 32 surveys in burned stands. Prescribed fire and distance to the Sipsey Wilderness were the strongest variables associated with whether signs were present. Activity was most often detected in unburned stands closer to the wilderness boundary. Where signs were present, they were more abundant in stands with a more even mix of overstory tree species, more fine woody debris and leaf litter, and a higher proportion of deciduous plants in the understory.

The authors concluded that wild-boar activity was lower in stands managed under the three-year burn regime, while activity and associated damage were higher in and near the Sipsey Wilderness. However, burned and unburned stands already differed in habitat before the project burns, so the study could not cleanly separate the short-term effect of the 2015–2016 burns from longer-term differences associated with the established burn regime. The authors note that prescribed fire can reduce understory cover used by wild boar, but recommend further work to isolate the mechanisms and compare different fire frequencies.

Sources and image credit

  1. Knight, P. E., Czech, H. A., & Stone, W. E. (2026). Wild pig habitat use impacted by prescribed fire in the William B. Bankhead National Forest, USA. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 90(4), e70193. https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.70193Primary open-access research article first published 26 March 2026 under CC BY. Seventeen forest stands were surveyed from 2014–2016; wild-pig sign was detected in 29 of 36 surveys in unburned stands and 6 of 32 in stands managed on a three-year prescribed-burn cycle. Pig sign was used as an indicator of activity and habitat use; the study did not estimate population size.

Image: U.S. National Park Service — invasive feral hog in Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas, photographed 19 June 2021; representative southeastern U.S. image, not an animal from the Alabama study. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · Public Domain · Source

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