https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/5169/35190/
Why Burn in May?
Incident: East River TREX 2017 Prescribed Fire
Released: 5/5/2017
Spring is a time of new vegetative growth and nesting for many species of birds. However, spring can also be an optimal time for using fire as a management tool to make quality habitat improvements.
Biologists within the Great Plains Fire Management Zone uses vegetation surveys to determine what to burn, where, and, most importantly, when the best time to implement a prescribed fire may be in order to receive optimal benefits. Timing is key; many of the native cool season grasses can outcompete non-native grasses given the right management actions and timing. Because two non-native grasses, Smooth Brome and Kentucky Blue Grass, start growing at a cooler temperature than most native cool season grasses, biologists and managers consider the best time to conduct a prescribed fire to set back the non-natives that can dominate and negatively impact an area while promoting desirable native plants.
Kentucky Blue Grass creates a mat or “slick” as it grows, keeping water from penetrating into the soil. It creates a more difficult environment for the native cool and warm season grasses to establish and grow. Smooth brome provides a sparse and shorter cover and can result in poor waterfowl and pheasant nesting success because of the lack of aerial cover it offers. Large tracts of these grasses lack the diversity of vegetation needed to allow a variety of species to thrive. Ducks can generally adapt to change and survive without specific and frequent management actions, though it may not be at the same level as it would with enhanced habitat management. Other species, such as grassland birds and monarchs, can be severely impacted without regular, effective habitat treatments. They need a higher quality and diverse habitat to perpetuate and thrive.
Burn plans list objectives for each potential prescribed fire. The timing of a prescribed fire may depend on whether the objective is to promote native cool season or native warm season grasses. By having a number of burn plans ready to go during the TREX, fire managers and biologists can work together to look at the sequence of scheduled prescribed fires and set priorities for which units to burn if weather conditions allow.
Wildlife and habitat managers know a spring prescribed fire has the potential to destroy established bird nests. However, if a prescribed fire is done early enough, it might be completed before some of the smaller birds have started nesting. Ducks like pintails or mallards will usually renest if the first one is unsuccessful due to fire, flooding, predation, or other causes of loss. Though each subsequent nest may have fewer eggs than the one before, some species may renest 3-5 times in the spring if needed. Pheasants, too, are prolific at renesting. The short term loss of nests due to a fire yields a much greater long-term gain by providing productive nesting habitat in the years to come.
Many of the region’s waterfowl production areas (WPAs) show signs of degradation due to a lack of burning. One of the key benefits of the TREX is that it allows a number of units to be treated with fire within the same window of time, keeping fire on the landscape at the optimal time of year to greatly improve habitat and waterfowl production in the Prairie Potholes region.