To promote the safe, legal, and responsible use of prescribed fire as a natural resource management tool.

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HELPFUL LINKS

Oklahoma State University publication regarding Best Management Practices for Eastern Red Cedar including helpful tips on burning cedar trees & cutting.
http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2550/NREM-2876web.pdf

US Fish and Wildlife Service Remote Automated Weather Station located at Hastings Nebraska which should help give good fire danger information for south central Nebraska. The information it provides can be seen at the Wildland Fire Assessment System web page where you can look up Fire Danger, and Dead or Live Fuel Moisture levels. They are color coded to help determine safe days to burn. http://www.wfas.net/


Ranchers Use Caution When Burning

Passers-by shouldn’t be alarmed at seeing a pasture on fire – unless the fire has escaped and the fire department has been called.  More and more ranchers are using controlled fire, also known as “prescribed burns,” as a pasture and range management tool.

Prescribed burns can serve one or more of several purposes.  Most ranchers aim to improve the quality of grass for grazing.  Ladd Reeves of Central City says, “By burning our pasture in northeast Howard County, we’re trying to set back the very aggressive cool season grasses and favor the more desirable warm season grasses for better mid-summer grazing.”  

Other ranchers who are also hunters want to improve habitat for game birds.  Maurice “Doc” Matthews of St. Paul claims that burning, done correctly, “Makes for better pheasant or quail hunting, by clearing out excessive old vegetation.”   Almost every burn includes the goal of controlling cedar trees.  Cedars “make wonderful windbreaks,” notes Helen Lassen of Elba, “but cedars in the pasture are terrible weeds.”

Native Americans deliberately set prairie fires long before white settlers arrived.  They may not have known about releasing the nutrients that are tied up in accumulated dead grasses, but they knew that grass grew well after a burn, and that the bison liked it and grew well on it.     Jim Lott, resource conservationist in the St. Paul office of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, has helped 27 ranchers plan for prescribed burns this spring on more than 2400 acres of pasture in Howard County.  Most of these burns are part of comprehensive range management plans, which also include rotation grazing – regularly moving cattle from one part of the pasture to another to give time for grass to recover, resting part of each pasture for a whole season, and control of “invasive species,” a fancy name for weeds.  For each burn, Jim has helped the land owners prepare a fairly extensive prescribed burn plan. 

Pheasants Forever, through Pete Berthelsen at Elba and Ben Wheeler and Ryan Lodge at Ord, also helps ranchers plan for burns. To learn how to plan and carry out pasture burns, more than sixty owners of pasture land in six counties have formed the Central Nebraska Prescribed Burn Association (CNPBA).  The Association provides training in how to write burn plans, what equipment is necessary, how to carry out burns correctly, what risks can be avoided, and what risks must be managed.  The Association recently completed two prescribed burn workshops, and plans to conduct two each successive year.

Association members assist each other in carrying out their respective prescribed burns in a cooperative manner.  Novices, as most members are at the beginning, also gain experience by taking part in two or more burns under trained leadership in preparation for conducting their own burns. 

To back up the CNPBA and others planning pasture burns, Pheasants Forever has equipped two mobile prescribed burn fire trailers that can be towed to burn sites.  Each unit contains most of the equipment and gear needed to safely conduct prescribed burns: two self-contained 250 gallon sprayer units that slide into a pickup, with gas engines and pumps, to be used in containing fire; fire ignition tools; hand held fire control tools; protective clothing; two- way radios, and a mini-weather station.  One trailer has priority for use by CNPBA members.  The other is available for use statewide, and will be an incentive for the creation of other burn associations, according to Pete Berthelsen.

CNPBA does not “conduct” burns, either for Association members or for other land owners.  Parties unable or not wishing to manage their own burns may hire experienced crews to carry out their burn, such as the Knopik family in Nance County, who have the necessary equipment and several years of experience, with no escaped fires.  In all instances, liability for damage from escaped fires remains with the landowner.

Specialists, including Lott, Berthelsen, David Carr, burn specialist at Central Platte Natural Resource District in Grand Island, and other conservationists, have encouraged and supported the Central Nebraska Prescribed Burn Association in getting started over the past two years.  CNPBA has approved seventeen cooperative burns for this spring’s burn season, which began in mid-March, and will extend through early May.

At least eight deliberately set pasture fires that escaped in Central Nebraska during the past two weeks serve as vivid reminder of the importance of careful planning and execution of burns on rangeland.  Although none of these fires caused loss of life or serious injury or property loss, fire crews, adjoining property, and volunteer fire fighters were at risk in putting them out.  None of these escaped burns had been presented for CNPBA approval.

Every pasture burn requires a burn permit from the local fire chief.  The permit implies that a burn plan has been prepared.  Chiefs or members of several area fire districts have taken part in the prescribed burning workshops sponsored by CNPBA.  Jim Kasson of St. Paul, President of CNPBA, said, “We welcome the participation and advice of firemen and fire districts in our planning and training efforts.  We hope and expect that our efforts will reduce the risk of fires escaping, and reduce the load on our volunteer fire fighters.  Our goal is that no CNPBA approved burn will ever escape.”

“The importance of a comprehensive prescribed burn plan cannot be emphasized too much,” continued Kasson.  “The burn-planning form that the Association uses forces each land owner to think about all the variables that go with each fire.  The owner should be clear about why he or she wants to burn, and what they expect to achieve.  They must consider what fuel they have available; what sort of fire barrier must be established to protect adjoining property; how many people and what equipment must be on hand; who will “boss” the burn; what wind direction and speed is desirable, or acceptable, or not; where safe areas and escape routes will be if the wind changes; and whether plenty of water is quickly available.”

If you see a bunch of neighbors controlling a fire, rest easy.  With training, planning, experienced fire managers, and plenty of help and water, prescribed burns can be a safe and useful tool to improve pastures.  Burning without all of these, or ignoring adverse weather puts people and property at risk.

For more information about prescribed burn plans, call Jim Lott (308-754-4424, ext. 3) or David Carr (308-385-6282).  To explore joining the Central Nebraska Prescribed Burn Association, call Jim Kasson (308-754-5108) or Helen Lassen (308-968-3358.)  For information about the mobile prescribed burn units, call Pete Berthelsen (308-754-5339).


Fire Council Issues Reminder of Safer Prescribed Burn Practices

With burn season upon us, the Nebraska Prescribed Fire Safety Council would like to take a moment to remind anyone interested in controlled or prescribed burning, that safe burning takes time and preparation. 

If you want to burn safely without escapes be sure to have enough people on hand.  The idea that a prescribed burn can be accomplished with just a few people to help is pure fiction and any such burn is a disaster waiting to happen.  In no case should any organized burn take place with less than six people.  With specialized equipment and hard boundaries such as mineral soil or open water, some small burns (40 acres or less) can be accomplished with 5, however a burn crew always needs an extra person in case someone has a health problem.  Additionally most folks do not have the specialized equipment and expertise necessary to utilize such a small number of people.  The following is a sound recommendation:

For Relatively Flat Grassland burns up to 160 Acres, hard or soft boundaries:
1 Experienced Burn Boss
2-4 Fire Trucks (200 gal. Ea.)  Staffed with at least 2 people in each.
2 Igniters (one for each flank, minimum)
2-4 ATV’s with high output 25-gallon sprayers and one person on each.
1 Lookout/ Weather Monitor.
TOTAL Crew Size (Minimum): 9 (If Boss serves as Lookout/Weather Monitor)

Additionally, as burns get larger, more equipment is necessary, involving more trucks, ATV’s, people, and water.    Another concern is the weather.  A few recent fires have been conducted during periods of unsafe weather conditions.  In order to be really clear with what the weather is going to be, it’s not enough to listen to the evening or morning news.  It’s critical that a burn manager go online to research the weather as much as possible.  The National Weather Service has several web-based resources including websites for the Hastings, and North Platte offices.  Other sites include ‘weather underground’ and ‘weather.com’.  It’s critical that burn managers thoroughly research these sites on the morning of the burn to get the weather conditions.

Favorable conditions for burning:
20-Foot Winds:  5-15 mph.
Eye level or mid-flame winds: 3-12 mph
Relative Humidity: minimum of 20%
Temperature: 40-79 Degrees

Lastly, Nebraska State Law (Neb Rev Statutes 81-520.02 Section 5) requires a burn plan for all range management burning.   Through thoughtful planning, a burn manager can fully detail what it will take to burn a particular unit and can identify the appropriate number of personnel needed as well appropriate weather conditions, burn breaks and equipment needs.  The Nebraska Prescribed Fire Safety Council emphasizes that burn plans need to be written for each burn and personally reviewed by the fire departments prior to the burn permit being issued.

If you would like assistance with a burn plan, you can easily contact your local NRCS office.  We hope these pointers help to make burning safer and to get landowners, fire chiefs, and dispatch centers on the same page. For more information, contact David Carr at 308-385-6282.


                                Eastern Redcedar Management on Grasslands in Nebraska 
Eastern redcedar is a serious threat to grassland productivity and biodiversity. Some control measures may be too expensive to use on grasslands, but in many cases, an integrated approach combing fire with more intensive follow-up methods will provide reasonable control at an acceptable cost.

READ ON...


Fire: Myths & Facts  READ HERE...


Council Meeting Notes  June 2007-October 2006
Outreach/Education Meeting Notes Click Here

 

  


 
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For problems or questions regarding this web contact [lee@cpnrd.org].
Last updated: April 10, 2008.