Specialist explains prescribed burn benefits
By Alex Smith
Conservation Planner
NRCS – Albany
There are many tools in a land manager’s toolbox; however, one of the most cost effective and often under-utilized tools available to them is prescribed burning.
The benefits of prescribed burning are far reaching and no matter the goal of the producer, prescribed burning often can be used to facilitate it.
The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has been assisting landowners with the planning and implementation of prescribed burning in Texas for decades and continues to advocate the use of prescribed burning to improve the condition of the land.
Fire is a natural component of the ecosystems we live in. Our land, plants and animals have evolved and are adapted to fire, and they depend on fire to thrive. Directly following a burn, birds and wildlife will move into the blackened area, foraging for newly exposed food sources.
Livestock will also migrate to the area as the quickly emerging regrowth is more palatable and nutritious than the standing forage found in unburned areas.
Timing and proper weather conditions for a burn are imperative for achieving individual goals.
Prescribed burns carried out with specific weather conditions can help control the encroachment of undesirable brush species or reduce the presence of previously treated brush left in the field.
Cool and warm season burns accomplish different land management goals. Proper timing of implementation during the burn can increase forb production to benefit wildlife, or can reduce forb (weed) production to increase grass proliferation for livestock.
Prescribed burning at regular five to seven year intervals, mimicking historical wildfires, can improve plant composition in a pasture and stimulate a plant community shift toward more desirable and productive species.
Proper preparation and a plan written to meet your objectives, if followed and implemented as written, can help achieve these goals and more.
Now is the time to start putting those plans together. With NRCS assistance, your property can be evaluated and a plan can be made that will help you use a prescribed burn to achieve your goals.
Contact one of the conservation specialists at the local NRCS office at 584 Hwy 180 E, across from the Friendship Baptist Church, to develop a prescribed burn plan.
