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Hot Dates
– Job Opportunities & Workshops
-2010
Training Workshops
July
17 (Saturday)- Summer Fire Field Day Cheyenne, OK Flyer
Contact: John Weir john.weir@okstate.edu
405-744-5442
-Class
Offerings Wyoming Fire Academy (WFA) is offering the
following:
*Wildland Classes
*Structure and Haz-Mat training classes
*S-430 Operations Sections Chief (outstanding cadre from around the Nation
including some new technology tools from Misoula)
*S-490 Advanced Behavior Calculations
*S-339 Division Supervisor
Visit http:wyofire.state.wy.us/wyfireacademy/index.html
for class schedules.
Contact: Mike Bournazian, Wyoming State Forestry Division & Rural Fire
Trainer, Wyoming Fire Academy (307) 856-0027
Central
Platte NRD Looking to Form Firewise Community Program
With
fire season upon us, it’s time to think about fire prevention and fire safety.
In recent years, we have seen the effect that wildfire can have on lives
and property. What can be done and
who can help to get a community ready for that event should it occur?
The Central Platte NRD would like to work with local communities to
initiate a program started by Firewise- a national communities program that
involves homeowners, community leaders, planners, developers, and others in the
effort to protect people, property, and natural resources from the risk of
wildland fire - before a fire starts.
The Firewise Communities approach emphasizes community involvement in
planning for a safe community, as well as effective emergency response and
individual responsibility for safer home construction and design, landscaping
and maintenance. The program
provides a list of steps to accomplish for a project area, laying a clear
framework for progress and helping to answer the question “What do we do
now?” This is how the plan works
for each community:
1)
Contact with the program is often
made by a community resident---either over the Internet or through the State
Forestry agency. All contacts
are listed at www.firewise.org/usa in the 'Contact
a Representative' area.
2) Once contact has been
established, the Firewise representative schedules a site visit to the
community.
3) A community assessment is
performed, either by the state liaison or his/her designee.
4) Community residents create a
local Firewise board or committee. This is generally composed of a variety of
homeowners. Fire staff will
participate as invited guests.
5) When the assessment is completed,
the Firewise representative or his/her designee presents it to the Firewise
board.
6)
The Firewise board uses the
information in the assessment to create an agreed-upon, area-specific action
plan for the community. The state
liaison or his/her designee approves the plan.
7) The Firewise board works with the
community to complete its first action item. This usually marks its first
'Firewise Day.’
8) Board members then download an application form from website, complete and
submit it to the Firewise representative along with supporting
documentation.
9) Firewise Communities/USA status
is renewable annually upon completion of that year's action item. Both
interactive and downloadable
renewal forms are available at www.firewise.org/usa.
If
you would like to help establish a Firewise Community, the Central Platte NRD
would like to help. Uncontrolled
wildfires can be destructive in our District.
Please contact David Carr at the NRD, (308) 385-6282.
CPNRD Concludes RX Burn Spring
Season
The
Central Platte Natural Resources District has recently concluded its spring
prescribed burns for 2009. The
accomplishment for this year was 17 prescribed fires totaling 965 acres burned
safely. The burns were conducted in
Buffalo, Dawson, Hall, Merrick, Howard, Sherman, Polk, and Platte counties in
Nebraska.
Central Platte NRD Prescribed burn program coordinator David Carr said:
“Utilizing these burns has helped the landowners in our district to kill
thousands of unwanted cedar trees in a very fast and cost effective manner.
These burns have also removed tons of hazardous woody material from these
pastures and fields ahead of this summer’s fire season.
That should help slow down wildfires if lighting should strike in the
area.”
Since the inception of the Central Platte NRD burn program in 2005, the burn
crew has completed 92 burns without incident.
Carr attributes this fact to the high level of training, equipment and
preparation that is put into each project. “Our
crew became state certified wildland firefighters in 2005,” Carr said.
Money
is available through NRCS and Pheasants Forever programs to pay for much of the
burning and also to help defray the cost of letting pastures sit idle in
preparation for a burn. “Burning when the cedar trees are smaller saves a
landowner tens of thousands of dollars when compared to removing older mature
trees using equipment not to mention the lost profit from the reduced grazing
capacity the cedars cause. “Many of the landowners I talk to don’t want to
face that up front cost of letting a pasture sit idle and then paying for a
burn, but the result will more than pay for itself,” Carr said.
This spring saw dry conditions and at least one major wildfire in our area.
Controlled burns have often been confused with prescribed burns in our
area. The differences between
a controlled burn and a prescribed burn are very significant.
Prescribed burns always involve the proper notifications, plans and
permits, as well as a completely prepared perimeter.
Prescribed burns also involve crews of 6-12 folks who are properly
equipped and trained. “Controlled
burns including trash burns and pile burns are not prescribed burns and muddling
the issue is counter productive to the Nebraska producer,” Carr added.
Currently, the Central Platte NRD is accepting applications for fall 2009 and
spring 2010 burn projects. If any
one is interested in having a field burned safely, they should contact the NRD
at (308) 385-6282. The boundary
preparation is best done the fall before the fire so the sooner the better.
Total
Acres Burned in Spring 2009 Total
Acres Burned Page 2
Insurance
Coverage for Prescribed
Fires
Atlantic Specialty Lines has announced the creation
of a new Commercial General Liability policy for specialty contractors
involved with prescribed fires and grassland burning. Prescribed fire is a land
management tool designed to control the natural buildup of “forest and
grassland fuels.”
This
product is the culmination of nearly 18 months of research into a unique market
segment that is grossly underserved by the property casualty industry. “There
are virtually no carriers in the U.S. today offering commercial liability
coverage for this class of business,” says Doug Rigdon, partner in Atlantic
Specialty Lines Midwest. Read
more...
Publications of Interest
Joint
Fire Science Program
This
website has publications based on research projects, updated & very useful
information. Check
it out!
Prescribed
Burning in Light to Moderate stands of Native Nebraska Forest
The
question arises when moving from grassland to forests, what is a safe
prescription for burning in trees? Is
it different from burning in the grasslands?
The answer relates to tree mortality and safety.
There really are two main issues... Click
here for article.
Lessons
learned from RX study: Escapes and Near Misses Click
Here
The
Colorado Forest Restoration Institute recently completed a report entitled
“Historical and Modern Disturbance Regimes, Stand Structures, and Landscape
Dynamics in Piñon-Juniper Vegetation of the Western
U.S.” The publication, supported in part by the Southwest
Fire Learning Network and Anne Bradley (TNC, New Mexico), can
be found at http://www.cfri.colostate.edu/docs/PJSynthesis.pdf.
Jim
Cox and Brent Widener (Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy)
have published a report entitled “Lightning Season Burning: Friend or Foe
of Breeding Birds?” that reviews recent research on the effect
of the timing of fire in southern pine forests on the birds that breed there; species
considered include bobwhite, wild turkey, red-cockaded woodpecker, brown-headed
nuthatch and Bachman’s and Henslow’s sparrow. The publication can be
found on the ConserveOnline Fire Learning Network workspace or at http://www.talltimbers.org/images/pubs/FireBreedingBirdsBooklet-small.pdf.
The
Forest Guild’s fall issue of “forest WISDOM” is devoted to the challenges
presented by the removal and use of woody biomass
to sustain long-term forest ecosystem integrity. It includes articles
on the appropriate scale of projects, the effect of rising oil prices on woody
biomass energy costs, and the export of wood pellets to Europe (http://www.forestguild.org/publications/forest_wisdom/Wisdom11.pdf).
An index to other publications can be found at http://www.forestguild.org/Publications.html#RP.
Recommended Resources
Rocky Mountain Research Station has recently published a review of the
relationship between non-native invasive plants and
wildland fire. To download
the 368-page volume, go to http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr042_6.html.
Another
volume in the series worth looking at is volume 2, Effects of Fire on Flora;
it's from 2000, but is still a great primer for new folks and has many
important references. Available at http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr042_2.html.
Also check out Fire Effects Information System (FEIS), a database of
the ecology and biology of individual species and their relationship with fire,
at http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/.
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
Archive-
Articles
Eastern
Redcedar Management on Grasslands in Nebraska READ ON...
Farmers Use Caution READ ON...
Fire Council Issues Reminder of Safer Burn Practices READ ON...
Fire: Myths & Facts READ
ON...
 
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