Dormant Season Prescribed Burning

What wildlife management tool causes the most fear and yet creates the most wildlife habitat for the least amount of monetary input? Fire. Controlled burning is an incredibly powerful tool in the wildlife habitat manager's tool box. An entire blog series could be written on controlled burning.

There is no doubt that ecological succession happens naturally, unfortunately interference by humans has led to drastic changes in vegetation types on the the landscape.

Dormant Season Burn

Looking just at the central plains, states like Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma have witnessed staggering amounts of woody encroachment on the landscape in the last 75 years, even in just the last 20 years. Wildfires are devastating for a lot of reasons, in the last couple of weeks 10s of thousands of acres have burned uncontrollably in Oklahoma. Obviously, weather and wind conditions made the fire what it was the fact that cedar trees were everywhere on the landscape increased the magnitude of the fire multiple times. With cedar trees serving as blow torches of embers, sending embers over 100 yards from the main fire creating spot fires faster they could ever be put out. It is my belief without routine use of controlled fire on the landscape that fires like this one in Oklahoma are going to be common place. There is no way humans can provide enough resources to mechanically remove cedars from the landscape in significant numbers. As fast as the cedars are removed more are taking their place. Cedar thickets have almost zero benefit to wildlife species. Without some type of disturbance on the landscape the succession from forbs and grasses to woody species (often times invasive woody species) is a constant process. I am not saying that mature forests and woodlands are not required by some wildlife species, however, most of the wildlife species that this blog focusses on do much better in early successional plant communities. Fire is a great tool for resetting the plant succession process. Tree cutting, mowing, herbicide application and disking can also be used, but those practices in general are far more time consuming, expensive and detrimental to soil health. Controlled burning outside of the possible need to establish fire breaks is very cost effective and a completely natural process. Burning at various times of the year leads to different outcomes in plant response to the fire. Burning at this time of year at least everywhere except the most southern states would be considered a dormant season burn. Deciduous plants do not have leaves yet, and while they may be green; cool season grasses and conifers are not actively growing.

Burning during the dormant season favors can have positive and negative results depending on what your objectives are. Keep in mind that the timing of these responses by plants will vary depending on your location. These responses are typical for my location here in Kansas. Burning in February and March often stimulates cool season grass growth, which is typically not a desired response conducive to good wildlife habitat. Most cool season grasses, especially introduced species, are sod forming in nature and choke out many other desirable species. The benefit of burning during this time frame however is that it often clears the ground of thatch accumulation allowing for forb species to germinate. Some forb species naturally break dormancy after a fire and would otherwise lay dormant. Waking up cool season grasses at this time of year is also highly beneficial in terms of stimulating new growth that is highly susceptible to herbicide application if you are looking to terminate cool season grasses on your landscape. Giving you a planting area with reduced competition to both native warm season grasses and forbs that often require maximum light for germination and growth. Conducting a burn in April and May once the cool season grasses have expended a good about of energy stored in their root systems also serves to reduce cool season grass vigor. This reduced vigor will give warm season plants a edge at least for the current growing season. If you are burning a predominately warm season grass landscape, it will also promote forb growth prior to the start of warm season grass growth. The open ground will also allow for interseeding of forbs and warm season grasses. As we progress into the growing season we will take a look at the results of burning at later times of the year on the habitat found on your landscape.