Prescribed fire is a powerful tool for rangeland management, often used to control invasive species, promote native plant growth, and reduce wildfire risk. But what about the impact on the smaller inhabitants of our rangeland systems? A 2024 study sheds light on how prescribed fire, particularly long-term fire regimes and legacy fire effects, affect arthropod communities.
[Read more…] about Arthropod Response to Long-term Prescribed Fire
Interactions between plants and soils, plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) are widely known to influence patterns of plant diversity at local and landscape scales. However, these interactions are rarely examined in the context of environmental factors. Prescribed fire is an environmental factor that alters microbial communities (Pourreza et al. 2014, Hedo et al. 2015, Prendergast-Miller et al. 2017). Prior to the study below, the influence of fire on PSFs was unexamined. Does fire affect PSF in woody legumes and what does it mean for Texas landowners? This study helped to answer this question by comparing soil microbial communities under living woody legumes, collected both within and outside of a burned area.
The Euro-Mediterranean region is a high fire prone area with 48,000 fires reported annually. The fires are the result of landscape fuel build up which has been driven by absentee land ownership, wildfire suppression policies, extreme temperatures, and extended droughts that simultaneously occur. This study used the LANDIS-II forest landscape model which is considered a fire-smart management tool. Fire-smart management is based on controlling fire regimes through landscape interventions to reduce hazardous fuels and foster fire-resistant/resilient landscapes. The study included assessing how alternative fire management strategies affect future landscape dynamics, the fire regulation capacity, and fire regimes under long-term absentee land ownership and extreme climate scenarios.
[Read more…] about Portugal Wildfires and What Does That Have to do With Texas?
As rangeland ecologists and managers, we are quick to produce definitive results after short-term treatments or management strategies. For example, many of our research studies revolve on the same timeline as graduate students. That in rangeland time, is pretty dang short. That’s why this study is so important. It is the first of its kind and it emphasizes just how crucial long-term research is, because what we think is the answer may just be the tip of the iceberg. There are certain rhythms to pick up on, especially after fire. We just need to stick around long enough with it, to find that rhythm.
[Read more…] about Let’s Dance: Finding a Fire Rhythm for a Native Perennial Grass
Extreme climate swings, lengthened fire seasons, drought, floods, overgrazing, fragmentation, land-use change, urbanization, and altered disturbance regimes has created an increase in woody plants, commonly referred to as woody plant encroachment or (WPE). Woody encroachment has become a global phenomenon in nearly all grassland ecosystems. We have seen the devastating results of WPE in Texas grasslands and savannas and as we learn from our North Central partners (CO, KS, MT, ND, NE, SD, and WY) many of these states are on a similar trajectory of plant community transition. Through the work of the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center and the Rangeland Analysis Platform, other states can learn from our Texas lessons of WPE and aim for fire return intervals that minimize initial spread of woody species in grasslands.
[Read more…] about Woody Plant Encroachment – What other states are doing and saying
Patch-burn grazing is a practice that requires an understanding of the interaction of fire and grazing (pyric herbivory) (for more information check out www.theprairieproject.org). It divides a pasture into pieces/patches, with one burn rotationally each year. It helps control woody plant encroachment and provides high-quality forages. Despite these known benefits, the adoption of this practice by ranchers has been slow and limited. This study focused on the benefits of patch-burn grazing by estimating the costs and long-term economic benefits. Additionally, researchers compared patch-burning to traditional applications of prescribed fire burning fenceline to fenceline or an entire pasture at once with a 3-year fire return interval.
Texas A&M Forest Service grant application period is now open and will close September 30, 2024 for prescribed fire grants awarded to East Texas Landowners.
To determine if you are eligible to apply and to access the online application, be sure to visit the Texas A&M Forest Service Site. There have been some changes this year including the name, eligible area for the program and rate changes. In addition, the recipient of this award must be a licensed or utilize a contractor who is licensed by the Texas Department of Agriculture as a certified and insured prescribed burn manager. Texas A&M Forest Service does not conduct the prescribed burns.
Below are the changes that have been made to this year’s grant program:
You can find more information about each of these programs here!
For questions please reach out to – ETxRxFireGrants@tfs.tamu.edu
In the western portion of the southern Great Plains, grasslands are defined as “southern mixed”, with warm season or C4 mid-grasses being dominant and cool season or C3 short-grasses in less frequent densities. As woody plant encroachment increasingly dominates, the productive warm season C4 grasses begin to decline with less abundance on the landscape and even less productivity. Woody plant dominance also reduces plant diversity eroding heterogeneity in the mixed-grass prairie. Recently, researchers measured the effects of various combinations of spring clipping (mimicked cattle grazing) and prescribed fire treatments over an 8 year period on Texas wintergrass and buffalograss with the overall objective of reducing Texas wintergrass abundance and increasing warm season C4 mid-grass species and diversity.
The Nebraska Prescribed Fire Council has published its second issue of Prescribed Fire Lessons Learned! The Nebraska Prescribed Fire Council takes submissions from practitioners on lessons learned from prescribed fires to assist producers, landowners, PBAs, and other prescribed fire professionals to keep improving season after season. This forum has been invaluable in learning from one another in hopes that mistakes or judgment calls turn into valuable lessons for all of us building and contributing to prescribed fire culture. Below are some highlights from this issue.
The Oconee Ranger District conducted a 1,637-acre prescribed fire in Eatonton, Georgia on February 22nd. On the day of the prescribed fire, three firefighters were assigned to the ignition crew and other personnel were assigned to holding and overhead positions. As the morning brief occurred, discussion on hazards including entanglements in vines were common to the area.
[Read more…] about Prescribed Fire Drip Torch Burn – Rapid Lesson Sharing