Category: Prescribed Fire

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Can I burn with low humidity?

Burning with relative humidity below 25% can be tricky as spotfires are likely and suppression becomes challenging. However, under certain circumstances with the proper preparation and a recognition and understanding of the risks, it is possible to safely burn under low humidity conditions. Examples of potential mitigating circumstances include the surrounding area, particularly downwind of the burn unit, is 1) “green” as a result of irrigation practices; 2) recently burned and devoid of fine fuels; 3) a body of water; or 4) bare or fallow agriculture land.

After a low-humidity burn, make sure to mop-up well and mitigate any possible issues near the fire line. Standing trees and down logs can burn for days or weeks in the right conditions. Monitor wind speed and direction as long as the burn unit is still burning or smoldering.

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Has fire frequency changed in the United States over time?

For most of the United States, current fire frequencies are longer than what historically occurred prior to European settlement. In part, this can be attributed to fire suppression and exclusion efforts. This is particularly true for the eastern 2/3 of the nation. There are some areas of the western United States that are experiencing more frequent fire due to exotic annual grass invasion. For further information about specific areas of the country visit http://www.landfire.gov/.

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Kansas Produces Smoke Management Video

Dr. Carol Blocksome and others at Kansas State University have developed a video that explains prescribed burning in the Flint Hills region of Kansas to an urban audience. Numerous people from all aspects of fire were interviewed in making the video. Their participation has been critical to the success of the video.  Dr. Blocksome stated they had many excellent interviews and were not able to use much more than a small fraction of the footage in the 26 minute video, which was the time allotted to them by the television station.  

 
This video can be found on the Great Plains Fire Science Exchange website or at their Facebook page. A bibliography detailing the science behind the video will also be available on this site.
 
A second, more technical video is being completed for producers that will go into more detail on methods to mitigate smoke from prescribed burning.  This will have some overlap with the urban video, but will include new footage. It will be available for agency staff and others that want to use it to promote adoption of the Kansas Flint Hills Smoke Management Plan. For more information please contact Kansas State University extension.
 
 

Kansas State University has just produced a smoke management video that explains prescribed burning in the Flint Hills region of Kansas to an urban audience.
 
 
 
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Using Fire to Manage Horn Flies on Cattle

Horn flies on a beef cow

Indigenous tribes of North America, Africa and Australia used fire for a variety of reasons including control of insects.  Commercial livestock operators have typically not recognized the impact of fire in reducing parasites on animals.  While the impact of fire on external parasites such as ticks has been documented, there has been little attention paid to how fire could be used to manage fly pests of cattle.  Horn flies are an external parasite of cattle that cause over $1 billion in economic losses each year.   Cattle serve as hosts for horn flies by providing blood meals and fecal pats that are used for laying eggs and overwintering pupa.  Given the fire prone ecosystems of North America, range scientists and livestock entomologists are evaluating the response of horn flies (a non-native pest from Eurasia) to fires.  The current trend in managing horn flies is with insecticides that are fed, sprayed or impregnated in ear tags.  Resistance to chemical active ingredients is a major problem and is now widespread.

Recent Findings

In 2011, cattle in Oklahoma and Iowa were evaluated for horn fly numbers.  Cattle were either on pastures that were patch-burned (a portion of the pasture burned each year) or on pastures that had not been burned in over two years.  All fires were conducted in March of that year.  Horn flies were counted during periods of peak activity and data was evaluated for location and treatment effects.  Cattle on pastures that were patch-burned had 41% fewer horn flies than cattle on pastures that had not been burned.  The accepted economic threshold for treatment of horns flies is 200 flies per cow, with 300 flies per cow causing behavioral stress. The unburned pastures had >400 horn flies per cow, while the patch burn pasture cows had approximately half as many horn flies.  It is thought that the application of fire is effective by two primary mechanisms: (1) cattle spend more time in the recently burned patch than unburned patches (as they are attracted to the highly palatable and nutritious plant regrowth after fire) and (2) fire in the dormant season (late winter and early spring) alters cow pats when pupa are overwintering in or below them.

Benefits of Fire Relative to Parasites

Using fire to manage horn flies is anticipated to have a number of positive impacts, including:  (1) reducing horn fly numbers is expected to result in a reduction of stress annoyance behaviors such as twitching, head throwing and swishing of the tail and ultimately an increase in grazing time, (2) reducing horn flies has been documented in numerous studies to have a positive impact on cattle performance, (3) the potential impact of fire on any parasite of cattle is an exciting alternative to the use of pesticides and a potential strategy to avoid the development of resistance to chemical treatments, (4) fly pests of cattle have been documented to vector diseases (horn flies are suspected of transmitting anaplasmosis and face flies are suspected of transmitting pinkeye).  Lastly, fire provides other benefits to pasture such as slowing woody plant encroachment and removing dormant plant litter and allowing for lush regrowth of grass. 

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Influence of Fire on Cattle Forage Quality

Cattle grazing on a burn

Importance of Fire

Fire is an important driver of many North American ecosystems, particularly grasslands.  The influence of fire on the plant community is largely attributed to its removal of dead standing plant material, impact on forage quality, and the impact on grazing animals.  Cattle production in undisturbed tallgrass prairie can be low due to the accumulation of dead standing plant material.  However, fire can increase production over 75%.  Historically, large bison herds followed fire as they were attracted to the lush regrowth that emerged.  Today, managers use prescribed burning to capitalize on this change in forage quality for cattle production. 

Forage Quality

Forage quality is typically expressed as crude protein (CP) which is based on the nitrogen content of forage. This nitrogen content is critical for microorganisms in the rumen.  Other measures of forage quality include palatability (typically associated with texture and moisture content) and digestibility (largely based on fiber and lignin). The primary influence of fire on forage quality is the removal of standing, dormant plant material.  Forage quality is largely a function of time: as plants age (mature) they decrease in quality.  This decrease in quality is due to the increase in fiber and lignin content, resulting in reduced digestibility and animal consumption.  Prescribed fire remove dormant plant material, increasing the nutrition and digestibility of post-fire regrowth. While prescribed fires are commonly conducted during the late winter or early spring, growing season (summer) fires have the same effect and can boost forage quality during a period of the year where it is typically decreasing.  Furthermore, the interaction of fire and grazing will impact below ground plant growth by increasing nitrogen mineralization and plant nitrogen availability, and improving the root tissue quality.

Benefits of Higher Forage Quality

Forage quality is a critical component of cattle production including reproductive efficiency, rebreeding, calf production, animal growth and milk production.  Understanding the importance of fire to native rangeland plants and the potential benefits to cattle can be a useful tool for ranch managers. 

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Blayr Gourley – Oklahoma State University

Blayr Gourley Burning

Blayr Gourley is the Oklahoma State University Natural Resource Ecology and Management Web Specialist. Her background includes a bachelor of science degree in agricultural communications and a master of science degree in rangeland management, both from Oklahoma State University. She specializes in rangeland management and prescribed fire. She works in promoting these disciplines through websites, social media, and printed materials; as well as working in the field every chance she gets. She lives on a research ranch where prescribed fire and grazing are used for research.

Currently, Blayr manages several websites including The Prairie Project, an educational website about the prairie ecosystem; The Oklahoma Prescribed Fire Council; The Oklahoma Chapter for the Society for Range Management; and NREM Extension. She is the newsletter editor and designer of the NREM and Oklahoma Chapter of the Wildlife Society newsletters. She also uses social media to promote The Prairie Project and the Prescribed Fire Community of Practice.

Contact Information:

email: blayr.gourley@okstate.edu

phone: 405-744-4975

 

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Michael D. Porter

Michael D. Porter is a senior wildlife and fisheries consultant with the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Oklahoma. He has worked with the Foundation for 33 years. Through the Foundation, Mike provides wildlife and fisheries management technical assistance to land managers in south-central Oklahoma and north-central Texas. Prior to working with the Noble Foundation, he was self-employed as an independent wildlife management consultant to ranchers in South Texas. His career has been devoted to helping people, especially land managers, better understand and conserve wildlife and fisheries resources.

Mike earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in wildlife and fisheries sciences and a Master of Agriculture Degree in wildlife science from Texas A&M University. Mike is a certified wildlife biologist, a certified professional in range management, a certified Oklahoma hunter education instructor and a certified Oklahoma aquatic resources education instructor.

Mike has considerable experience managing white-tailed deer, northern bobwhite, eastern bluebird, beaver, waterfowl, largemouth bass, channel catfish, bluegill, grass carp, ponds, hunting leases, prescribed fire, woody plantings, aquatic vegetation, soil erosion as well as other natural resource issues.

 

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Dwayne Elmore – Oklahoma State University

Dwayne Elmore is the Wildlife Extension Specialist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Oklahoma State University (http://nrem.okstate.edu/). He has both Extension and research responsibilities.  Specific areas of interest include wildlife habitat relationships, the role of disturbance to maintain sustainable ecosystems, and social constraints to conservation.  

Contact Information:

phone: 405-744-9636

email: dwayne.elmore@okstate.edu

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