Finally got to burn my 4 acres of NWSG(New pics on 5/9/11)

J

jaytee

New member
I've been waiting for a north, NW or NE wind and I finally got my wish yesterday as we had NW winds at about 6 to 8 mph which is just about perfect. Humidity was a tad low but we decided to go ahead as we had several feet of plowed fire lines plus a lot of green. And I took the tractor and disc and just smashed down about the first 20 feet of Big Blue and Indian so as to reduce the flame height. This first pic shows just that.
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This next pic is where we started at. Since we had a NW wind we started at the SE corner and let it backburn a good 30 feet before we started stringing fire up the east side and along the south end.
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And here's a pic of the fire on the east side. Kinda far away but it was burning really good.
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Then after I strung fire up the west side of the field and around to the north, this is the result. The pic really doesn't do it justice at all as I still had the camera on zoom from taking the earlier pics across the field. We were a good 40 feet away and was still plenty warm. In fact we'd backed up to just about the road that borders the north end, hence the wait for a north wind. Flames were a good 25 feet high and the mushroom cloud it produced will probably show up on google maps one of these days. My helper kept saying "look up, look up" but I was too busy moving back.
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Then finally the aftermath so to speak. I can see why folks are using bales of switch grass to burn in furnaces for heat, the BTU's put off by this NWSG is absolutely amazing.
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Yep I had a ton of fuel. I think this year I'm gonn have it baled just to see how many big bales can come off of 4+ acres of BB and Indian. Its extremely thick, too thick for habitat for birds, other then the redwing blackbirds that have been roosting in it all winter. And the deer love to bed in it also.
 
Thought that was strictly "anti-pyro"! Your home state could use a lot of pyro's to get the habitat set back!!! Add in a whole bunch of Journey or Plateau and there could be hope. You guys that care keep pecking at the edges and showing the neighbors the good you're doing and maybe you'll see the benefits soon. Send me some of that moisture you've been getting. Maybe then I'll get to drag the drip torch. It's been calling my name, it's missing me:)
 
You know I was suprised when we walked the field after the fire that we were squishing water out while we walked, especially on the lower end of the field. Evidentally that WSG sure helps hold moisture due to its shading ability.
 
You're right, the key to keeping soil moisture is to protect it from the sun and wind. What you're going to find is that the burn will make it drier. It not only exposes it to the wind and sun, but the black makes the temperature go up leading to higher moisture loss. That is one of the main reasons to have a full soil profile of water before lighting a fire. One more shocker, nice to see that Panama drip torch at your fire! So many of the fire fighters here know only about the flares. They are really inferior to the drip torch. When you're burning, it's important to have a continuous fire line and also to get it lighted quickly. The torch is the only way to go for most fires. Propane torches, burning tires, the old rake are poor choices.
 
Several points Chris: first, one problem after a burn is if you get heavy rain, it tends to crust over the ground due to raindrop impact and make infiltration poorer; Second, the ash can further plug the natural filtration process and increase runoff; Third, the slow release of the melting snow should put more of the moisture into the root zone of the grasses and facilitate better infiltration and utilization. Getting fast greenup is important because you need those plants to protect the soil surface from rain impact and the effects of wind. You want your soil moisture going through the plants, not being evaporated.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
Several points Chris: first, one problem after a burn is if you get heavy rain, it tends to crust over the ground due to raindrop impact and make infiltration poorer; Second, the ash can further plug the natural filtration process and increase runoff; Third, the slow release of the melting snow should put more of the moisture into the root zone of the grasses and facilitate better infiltration and utilization. Getting fast greenup is important because you need those plants to protect the soil surface from rain impact and the effects of wind. You want your soil moisture going through the plants, not being evaporated.
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Well then.....bring on the SNOW:D
 
Its been almost a month since the BIG burn of my NWSG and I thought I'd post up some new pics to give you all a progress shot of the field.

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I'd say its filling in and greening up rather nicely. Incidentally when I stepped out this morning at 7am to take these pics, I heard 3 or 4 different quail and a couple of them sounded like they were on the edge of this field. How cool is that!!!:cheers:
 
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