Legislation to Promote Prescribed Burning Signed by Governor Braun
From the Indiana Prescribed Fire Council:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – – May 2, 2025
A new law to expand Indiana’s prescribed fire capacity was signed by Gov. Mike Braun on April 30. The bill expands a prescribed fire training program administered by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The bill also defines the liability for those certified through the training program.
Prescribed burning is the planned application of fire under specified weather and fuel conditions to achieve specific and clear management objectives, such as restoring wildlife habitat. Previously, Indiana was one of only a few states that did not have a certification program or liability clearly defined through legislation.
Fire has been part of Indiana’s landscape for thousands of years. Native Americans purposefully and strategically used fire to shape Indiana’s landscape for a variety of reasons including wildlife habitat management, vegetation regeneration, and management of oak and hickory species, all to create abundant and predictable resources.1 Fire continued to influence Indiana’s landscape following European settlement until exclusion of fire within the past century. This exclusion of fire can still be reversed with prescribed burning before it is too late.
This legislation provides numerous benefits to Indiana:
• Supports private property rights: Enables private landowners to use an essential tool to manage their property. A lack of established liability for private landowners and their representatives has been a barrier for landowners to exercise their rights to manage their property.
• Improves the market for prescribed fire liability insurance: Legislation should enable insurance companies to offer more competitive rates and expand coverage while also expanding the number of companies willing to provide this insurance in Indiana.
• Increases economic opportunities for small businesses: The cost and availability of insurance for prescribed fire is a limiting factor for businesses to be able to offer this service to private landowners in Indiana. Liability protection reduces this barrier for both new and existing contractors.
• Allows landowners to tap into federal funding: USDA already makes funding available to help landowners cover the cost of writing a burn plan and conducting a burn, but without liability legislation their ability to conduct a burn or hire a contractor is extremely difficult.2
• Enhances the future of Indiana’s hardwood Industry: Oak species are the cornerstone of Indiana’s $10 Billion hardwood industry.3 Indiana’s oak forests and woodlands were born out of fire. Without widespread application of prescribed fire, our future supply of oak timber is bleak. Prescribed fire is the most effective and efficient way to begin the next crop of oaks needed to fuel this industry.
• Restores and maintain wildlife habitat to protect and promote our hunting heritage: Native habitat managers throughout the eastern US are implementing more fire to restore and improve essential habitat for game and non-game species. Indiana has shown that we can be a leader in quality hunting opportunities, but Indiana needs prescribed fire as a viable tool for that trend to continue.
• Bolsters a Standard of Prescribed Fire Training: Legislation will support a standardized training program for prescribed fire, incentivizing individuals to complete the training through liability protections. This will enhance the safe application of prescribed fire.
About the Indiana Prescribed Fire Council
We are a collection of prescribed fire practitioners from across Indiana. We have members from various state and federal agencies, universities, conservation organizations, land trusts, private companies and consultants, and private landowners. Our mission is to promote the safe use of prescribed fire in the management of Indiana’s diverse ecological systems. Learn more at https://inpfc.org/.