West Texas Rangelands
West Texas RangelandsWe hope to provide a variety of science-based rangeland information and current research on prescribed fire, wildfires, brush management, and grazing management!

Masticator Sparks Wildfire – Rapid Lesson Sharing

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This past October in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge (Comanche County, OK, USA) a skid steer masticator was conducting a hazardous fuels reduction treatment along a paved road. There was additional road grading and other mechanical fuel reduction work for a future prescribed burn occurring on other parts of the refuge that day. Unfortunately, the masticator hit a rock that was hidden underneath the vegetation and, unknowingly, sparked a fire. 

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Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis)

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As stewards, let’s all just take a Christmas moment reflection and a deep breath of blue grama.  Did you know that blue grama is the most common plant found throughout the mixed prairie? Even more impressively, blue grama possesses the most general distribution thriving as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico. 

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Cheatgrass in Texas Lower Rolling Plains

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What is Cheatgrass? Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), is an invasive annual species. This species poses a significant ecological threat to the Southern Great Plains of Texas, particularly in the Rolling Plains Region. Cheatgrass will displace native grasses such as sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium). These dominant, perennial, native grasses are key to maintaining soil stability, biodiversity, and forage quality (D’Antonio & Vitousek, 1992; Chambers et al., 2014).

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Wildfire Risk to Communities

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What is Risk? Risk is the probability and consequences of uncertain future events. It is the framework for understanding the implications of decisions because the decisions we make all come with a tradeoff. Wildfire Risk is the likelihood of a wildfire occurring and the potential effects it would have on things we care about. Being able to estimate the likelihood and consequences of wildfires, we are better able to consider and plan for possible outcomes. 

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Getting to The Root of It

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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. 

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Is it Summer? Weather and Drought Update

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October was the warmest and driest October on record across the state of Texas. We are also tracking to have the warmest year on record, which would replace 2023 as the warmest. While some of the state saw some rain over the last week, in other areas of the state the predictions for rain did not pan out. According to the figure below, for the month of October, the entire state saw less than 25% of the normal amount of rain.

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Portugal Wildfires and What Does That Have to do With Texas?

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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.

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Fire Weather Alert System and Wildfire Risk to Communities Resources from the U.S. Forest Service

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The Fire Weather Alert System (FWAS) is a vital tool designed to support firefighters on the front lines by providing timely and critical weather information. This app is specifically designed to provide wildland firefighters alerts and notifications for changing weather conditions based on user-set thresholds. The app also provides convenient access to RAWS data, Zone Fire Weather Forecasts, and other important fire weather information.

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Let’s Dance: Finding a Fire Rhythm for a Native Perennial Grass

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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.  

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