Prescribed Burn to Manage Rangelands

sitenum=276

Updates on agriculture and natural resource topics from the Sierra Foothills

Author: Ben Granholm

Published on: June 2, 2014

At the end of May trained SFREC staff along with members of Cal Fire conducted a prescribed burn to manage vegetation on the center. There are many advantages to conducting a burn rather than other management practices. These advantages include the ability to kill off weed-seed violations and remove any unwanted species that threaten the native species in an ecosystem. However, with the current air-quality regulations and state of drought, a prescribed burn can be difficult to get approved this time of year. SFREC had a burn scheduled last week that was postponed to a later date because of these difficulties.

The burned area will be used to look at the utility of spring burns to manage vegetation and eliminate invasive species such as medusa head and star thistle as well as look at the success rate of the native species after the invasion and burn.

We thank the members of Cal Fire for working with our staff to conduct a safe and successful burn.

Tags: Medusahead (7), Prescribed Burn (1), Rangeland Management (23), Rangeland Weeds (7), Research (17), Research and Extension Centers (8)

Comments: 4

Comments:

by Alison L Kent

on June 2, 2014 at 11:34 AM

Exciting you were able to do this given extreme fire danger...

by Charles A Raguse

on June 3, 2014 at 7:42 AM

Interesting photo. Can you specify what native species have "invaded" at this location? Thanks

by Charles A Raguse

on June 5, 2014 at 2:18 PM

This burn, conducted with vanishing small hazard to adjacent residences, marks an excellent beginning to a valuable long-term program. But a few questions, por favor:
Were data on resident plant species at this site carefully collected, along with some indication of abundance?
Will this site be re-burned on some set of pre-determined yearly time intervals?
If continued, will it include comparable plant communities and physical site characteristics?
If continued, will it have a valid experimental design and a reasonable number of replications necessary to ensure that data obtained are reliable enough to justify extrapolation to other locations in the general area?
Given the extensive acreage of the SFREC and,if support resources are available, the above-outlined program can be carried out successfully.
The SFREC has a long history of conducting control burns, which it can draw upon, including some that posed danger if things got out of hand, but with due care and the support of Cal Fire the risks to be incurred are small.
There are two main "take-home" points: 1.This is doable. 2. It is worth doing only if it is conducted according to a well thought-out plan with commitment to adhere to its specifications.
It shouldn't be a "Let's just do it and see what happens."

by Dustin K. Flavell

on June 9, 2014 at 8:32 AM

@ Alison: We were able to execute this burn prior to the extreme fire danger the North State is experiencing now. We work closely with both CALFIRE and the local air quality to ensure a safe and effective burn on a day that has been deemed a "burn day" by air quality and the state fire marshal.

@ Charlie: The invaders at this location were yellow star-thistle and medusahead neither of which is "native".