In addition, fires can breakdown peds in soils and, as mentioned earlier, create sand-sized aggregates of the clays. Erodability is a problem in areas with steep topography, therefore it is essential to revegetate the landscape quickly after a fire. Low intensity fires also tend to create patchy burn mosaics on the landscape. Patchy burning is often a direct function of soil moisture. Areas that have moist soils or have low areas that are moister facilitate lower intensity fires and patchy burning.
Fire can be a useful way to rejuvenate forested areas.
Not only do they replenish the soil with nutrients vital to plant growth through the quick breakdown of dead plant materials, but they also cut out disease from plant populations and often facilitate plant reproduction. The intensity of a fire, however, has a great influence over how helpful the fire is to ecosystems. High intensity fires tend to be quite degredational and prohibit plant regrowth, while low intensity fires are quite beneficial to plant communities. This difference is a direct function of water's interaction with such variables as parent material, topography, biota, and time. Based on this, recommendations for prescribed burning of forested areas specify that the best times to burn are in the wetter months of the year.