Curriculum

This fact sheet from Oklahoma State University describes the use of firebreaks in prescribed burning.

This fact sheet describes a variety of plants that can be used in fire-resistant landscaping.

This document provides an overview of the use of prescribed fire in grassland management. It describes the history and importance of fire in grasslands, plant responses to fire, and potential benefits of fire. Fire planning, safety, and legal concerns are summarized. In addition, guidance on special uses of fire is provided.

Tobosagrass is a productive, but coarse and generally unpalatable grass. Distribution extends from western Texas through southern New Mexico to southeastern Arizona and north-central Mexico. An important characteristic of tobosagrass is perennial stems; these stems and the unpalatable nature of tobosagrass ensure that large quantities of standing dead grass accumulate. This manual describes management practices for tobosagrass rangeland.

A new fact sheet for managing sand sagebrush in rangeland is available from Oklahoma State University. There is a nice section about fire; take a look.

If you are considering burning rangeland for the first time, you may think that a detailed planning process seems largely unnecessary. You may be thinking:

“I’ll wait until after frost and burn out the southwest 40 acres of the back pasture. If I burn when there’s no wind, I won’t need any help. I can drive the cows to the other side of the Section Pasture and shoot a gun a few times to scare out the deer so they won’t burn up. And the belly-high broomweeds should burn hot enough to kill most of the mesquite, whitebrush, and prickly pear.”

Wait a minute—this thinking contains at least eight misconceptions, including those dealing with timing, wind, help, fuel, expected brush kill, grazing management, the size of the burn, and its impact on wildlife habitat. If you burned using this plan, you would probably never burn rangeland again on purpose because of the risks taken and the potential for disappointing results.

Effective planning well in advance is vital for achieving the beneficial effects of a prescribed burn. The elements of a plan are described in Extension publication E-37, Prescribed Range Burning in Texas, which is available from your county Extension agent or on the web at http://agrilifebookstore.org.

This publication from Texas A&M Agrilife Extension contains more information and a checklist to use when planning a prescribed burn.

It is well-known that fire has historically played an important role in creating and maintaining ecosystems in the Midwest. In landscapes where fire has been suppressed or where invasive and exotic plant species have taken hold, prescribed fire is a useful tool for restoring native plant communities.

This management technique can be valuable for increasing suitable habitat for some herpetofauna. However, there is a growing body of evidence that it may also be damaging to resident populations of reptiles and amphibians. When planning prescribed fires, habitat managers should consider the needs of all parts of existing floral and faunal communities. Maintenance of native animal populations, particularly vulnerable, rare, or threatened species, deserve as much attention as the manipulation of plant communities toward a predetermined goal. To assist land managers concerned about the impacts of fire on herpetofauna, the Midwest Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) provide the following recommendations to promote effective use of prescribed fire in ecosystem restoration.