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Landowners get 'fired up' on prescribed burns |
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By JULIET BRISKIN | Central Texas Edition |
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February 28, 2002 -- Fire is as natural as rain and sunshine and according to Dr. Butch Taylor, superintendent and professor at the Texas A&M University Research Center in Sonora, if used properly can be an excellent tool for landowners. On Feb. 20 and 21 a prescribed burn school was held at the Somervell County Expo in Glen Rose and consisted of classroom lecture and tour of a local ranch that regularly uses prescribed burns. The purpose of the program was to educate landowners about the benefits and proper methods of burning. Taylor is considered an expert on prescribed burns and has participated in over 40 burns in the last three years. "We can sit in a classroom and talk about burning all day long," stated Taylor, "but the best way to learn about burning is through experience." According to Taylor burning has been used to improve wildlife habitats since the time of the Indians. "They used fire on a regular basis to maintain buffalo habitats," he explained. By regularly burning the Indians prevented the extension of forest areas thus increasing grassland areas. But as the white man moved west burning was suppressed. "Unfortunately our ancestors did not recognize the value of burning pasture land," stated Taylor. "We have a long history of fire suppression and in 1884 it became a felony in the state of Texas to burn pasture land." With the urbanization natural burns were suppressed. By building roads and towns and over grazing pasturelands the natural fuels supplied by the land were destroyed. But, according to Taylor, attitudes about burns are changing and landowners are again recognizing the value of fire for pasture and wildlife management. Mother Nature provides a built-in fire regime stated Taylor. In August, Texas experiences the highest level of lightening strikes for the year and a hot dry climate. "Vegetation is well adapted to fire," he said. "It is hard to kill vegetation with fire unless you are talking about juniper or prickly pear." According to Taylor the larger the burn the cheaper it is and summer burns are less expensive than winter burns. "In the summer you don't need to do as many burns, but you have to know what you are doing," he said. "Summer burns work well in some places but not necessarily in others." "The first thing you must know is your objective," said Taylor. "Why are you going to burn?" According to Taylor there are many good reasons to burn but the most common are pasture management and wildlife habitat management. Before ever beginning a burn it is important to have a burn plan, explained Taylor. "You want a prescription nailed down before you begin," he said. "An escaped fire can be unbelievably expensive." Aspects of the plan should include the range of environmental conditions in which a fire will be conducted such as humidity, wind speed and direction and temperature. Additional aspects include ignition procedures, ignition locations, suppression crew locations, and locations of the fires. Taylor also stressed the need to determine management objectives. These can include improved pasture accessibility, increased forage quality and production, suppression of noxious brush and improved herbaceous composition. Other things that must be considered according to Taylor are crew member experience, fire break quality, equipment quality, smoke management and terrain. "Lack of crew member experience can be limiting," he explained. "There is no such thing as a perfect burn. Problems can exist, but a fire plan helps reduce those problems and account for anything that does crop up." Another thing to consider is the amount of precipitation a given region has. "We know that precipitation is what grows our forage and it is forage that is going to determine what type of fire we are going to have," stated Taylor. "It is very difficult from one year to the next to predict whether you are going to have enough fuel or not." Another aspect of precipitation that is important is cool season versus warm season precipitation explained Taylor. "Warm season precipitation is what is going to grow your warm season grasses. That is your fuel and will determine what type of fire you are going to have," he said. "Cool season precipitation is going to provide winter wheat and grasses and those are not going to provide fuel for fire. This gives you a good indication of what your fuel load is going to be." Education and especially experience are the best ways to become proficient at prescribed burns according to Taylor. For more information about prescribed burns the Texas Cooperative Extension Service publishes a pamphlet entitled Planning a Prescribed Burn and a booklet entitled Prescribed Range Burning in Texas. In addition the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission publishes a guide entitled Outdoor Burning in Texas. To obtain a copy visit www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/publications. |
