Burn/range management season

I guess that's why we call them "prescribed burns" not "controlled burns". I had a fire in '13 that was supposed to be less than 40 acres and it turned out to be near 300. At least we kept it on our side of the fence. It was a situation where I was distracted and expected a bunch of rookies to understand what to do. It was my fault and caused no harm. With the number of smaller elms in the patch, the added black acres probably saved me some $ down the line.

I think if you studied each cedar and compared the ones that lit and those that didn't you'd find it was a combination of ladder fuels, siting, dead needle load, and how the fire approached. If they preheat, they are more apt to light. If they don't, less so. Often the smaller cedars get their start in the middle of a thicket and the lack of fine fuels around them protects them as they grow. Chainsaw time! If you need practice, I've got just the spot for you!!!

England? Bringing home any imports???
 
Steve, looks like you did get a complete burn on it. I'm sure you know, but you will find cutting those hedge trees much easier post burn that it would have been prior. Keeps a lot of grass from plugging your blade. I think you might see a reduction in your pocket gophers with the fire.
 
I had about a 100 - 25 ft long patch burn across the road. Cedar next to the road went up. But what got me in trouble was a group of 5-6 tall thin cedars that were growing close to each other. The fire went up the inside of that group and turned them in to a smoke stack. Flame 100 ft in the air. This was a couple hundred ft from my fire break. But I end up with a spot fire 100 yards over my break.

My neighbor who is on the volunteer fire department suggested I schedule a cookout with steaks and burgers, so I could have a true controlled burn.... ;)
 
I'm guessing that you had problems with humidity. If you'd done the burn with higher humidity, spot over is almost impossible. Once you get under 35%, the probability goes up logarithmically. In addition, your fire break needs to be 10X the height of adjoining fuels. If you have 30 foot cedars, that's 300 feet. I've gotten bitten by that before. Having a 25 foot break for 2 foot fire goes out the window when you leave an 8 foot cedar right next to the break. I get a bit blind on the disk at times. Pays to take the ATV back before the burn and check for trees like that. You can look for thatchy spots in your disk strip at the same time.
 
... I didn't get anything while I was there. It was a brutal trip, didn't do much but work and drive between locations.

The first place I went was Preston England, its where my family came from back before the Revolutionary War.

I did find it interesting how many dead pheasants I saw along the side of the road there. Saw hundreds that had been hit, driving from Preston to Poole, about 225 miles.
 
I can tell you that driving on the "wrong" side of the road takes some concentration. Pretty happy that I didn't go down the right side.

The rental was a manual which is not big deal, but the gear shift was on the left side, which was really weird.

Glad to be headed home.

I am guessing that the birds were getting gravel, and get hit.
 
I tore my rotator cuff some years back at the bison roundup. Had to drive home 100 miles in a stick using my left hand. It was a bit different. I can sure understand. You said earlier you had fire I couldn't believe. The first time I burned the T draw here on the area, I have ground flames above the 70 foot cottonwoods due to sericea duff load. It was spooky!
 
Cedars really add to the variability of a fire. I am going to be glad to have them gone, and do a little grazing.

If I can get 7 coveys on my place, I will be really happy...... and have totally broke dogs on wild birds :)
 
There are several plants that can act more volatile in burns. Sometimes it is due to fine fuel growing along side. Sometimes it is due to drought or humidity. However, switchgrass, sericea lespedeza, cedars, pines, and even plums at times can flare up beyond your expectations and create situations that require you to adapt, sometimes quickly.

Having 7 coveys, you will have to walk that fine line where you can only work them so much without forcing them across the fence:) Oh the responsibility:)
 
That's why I want 7, should always have 2-3 on the place.
I run the dogs pretty often, or when Indy isn't wearing staples. So they are going to get blown off the place at times. Just need to make it to nice to be gone for long.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
Quail Hound, tell me where to get one of those bumper stickers!!!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. I stole that pic from the LPCI Facebook page. They can probably get you a couple.
 
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The summer burn season is upon me. We got a 65 acre burn done on Monday when the high was about 84. We burned 2 more tracts for a total of 71 acres yesterday when the high was 96 or better. I'm here to tell you, 84 is much better burning weather. We really suffered yesterday. Thought 3 of us were going to go down at various points. The smoke on these summer burns is much worse and tends to affect you more. The heat just doesn't leave. Interesting thing though, we've observed quail moving back into the black on each of these fires before they were out! I was surprised yesterday with just how well the woody vegetation went up. We completely consumed some Mulberry trees that were protected in the middle of plum thickets that were 12 feet tall. This should set back succession significantly.

The first photo shows lighting of the head fire. The back fire had already been lit and widened on 2 sides. The other 2 sides were acting as head or flank fires. The second photo is of the head fire running. As you can see compared to spring head fires, the summer fires are much smaller and smokier. All the green plants subdue the flame and increase the smoke. The third photo is of the smoke plume after the fire is entirely encircled. Care must be taken to not block highways or airport approaches with this amount of smoke. As you can see, I am using the ATV to keep from completely dropping from the heat. The heat index was about 105 about then. The final photo is of the aftermath. Though the small cedar in the foreground is not consumed, it has been significantly heated that is will go ahead and die in the next week. The shrubs in the background will also defoliate in the coming days. A good rain on these burns and the new growth will be showing in just a few days.







 
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Looks good. We have a few fall burns planned but no summer ones. We would get strung up for not having hard hats on. You state guys!!
 
3car, I wore my helmet intermittently throughout the day when I was in hot spots. We had no overhead threats, so that wasn't an issue. With the neck skirt, there was absolutely no ventilation, so it had to come off most of the time to keep from over heating. On days like this, the heat is more dangerous than potential head injuries!
 
Troy, how often do you perform summer burns out there, and is there concern for nesting birds/fawn being this late in the season?

Nick:)
 
Good question Nick. On average, by July 1 approximately 75% of the pheasants have hatched. Quail are a week to 10 days behind, but we are starting around the 20th so I expect more than that number to have hatched already. What we are burning is the most thatchy cover on the area with a goal of only 275 acres. On 4,600 acres, that would rarely impact a significant number of nests. The costs to the habitat from not burning would be much more detrimental. On larger tracts, we use strip fire techniques to minimize the chance that broods can't escape. The end result will be much more productive plant communities and structure. By 4 years post-burn, these habitats are losing their attractiveness to birds from a nesting and brood-rearing standpoint. Using the Patch Burn/Patch Grazing gives us at least 8 levels of succession in each pasture. That makes much more of the habitat useable space. Most of our fawns are born in May and June. By now they are quite able to escape these low-intensity burns!
 
Nice work Troy and thanks for sharing the photos. Always helps in the education department.

I am excited to do some scheduled mid contract burns next spring with my new 30' alfalfa firebreaks installed. I have 54 acres (14 miles) of firebreaks on the farm around every field. The new broods really take advantage of them too.

Fields to be burned next spring: 40, 30, 18, 7 & 7 acre fields
 
I slipped over and walked thru Thursday's first burn this morning. Took some pics, but haven't gotten them loaded yet. Some grass plants already have 4 inches of growth in 4 days despite dry conditions. A good number of elms and cedars that weren't consumed during the fire have turned brown as well. It is amazing just how resilient these native species are. Should be an interesting spring coming up for you Uguide!
 
We are looking at doing interseeds immediately after these burns to restore the diversity and any forbs lost through chemical apps for thistle. We have cp25 which is rare and declining habitats. All native varieties.

I am growing fonder of the natives and they do seems to be more acclimated to the extremes in this country. They are also more tolerant to the milestone applications. Also looking into more diverse milestone tolerant species interseeds to really keep the diversity and still have a tool for thistles.
 
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