Data from: Burning from the ground up: The structure and function of Prescribed Burn Associations in the United States

To combat losses and threats from fire exclusion and extreme wildfire
events, communities in the United States are increasingly self-organizing
through locally led Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs) to plan and
implement prescribed burns on private lands. Our study aimed to document
the expansion of PBAs and provide insight into their structure, function,
and impacts. Leaders from 135 known PBAs across the United States were
invited to participate in an online survey. Survey results demonstrate a
widespread emergence of PBAs in the United States, successfully mobilizing
thousands of volunteers to collectively burn more than 34,000 ha annually.
PBAs demonstrated that they are reducing myriad barriers to prescribed
burning while meeting their goals to broaden access to the use of fire
using a neighbors-helping-neighbors model to provide training, pool
resources, and reduce the costs of prescribed burning. By including
volunteers with diverse levels of experience and backgrounds, PBAs are
changing the narrative of who has access to the use of fire. The
adaptability of the PBA model to local contexts provides an alternative
model of community-led, non-agency- based fire management critical to
advancing the pace and scale of restoration needed in fire- adapted
ecosystems.