Curriculum

Prescribed fire affects wildlife in various ways. Population responses by species can be positive, negative, or neutral, short-term or long-term, and they often vary across spatial scales. Whereas prescribed fire can create or maintain habitats for some species, it can also remove or alter conditions in ways that render it unsuitable for other species. Furthermore, a species may benefit from fire in one situation but not another. Given the variations in fire and in species responses, the only real generalization one can make is that exceptions occur.

As redcedar encroaches and increases in canopy cover, species diversity that is endemic to grasslands collapses and production of herbaceous biomass (forage) underneath decreases, resulting in a loss of livestock carrying capacity (Smith and Stubbendieck 1990; Engle et al. 1987; Limb et al. 2010; Twidwell et al. 2013a).

The “cut and stuff” practice is an addition of ladder fuels that can increase fire intensity and create longer flames needed to control larger trees, thus increasing the overall effectiveness of most prescribed burns.

The vegetation patterns and succession of Great Plains grasslands are structured largely by fire. We can see how important fire is to these grasslands by its exclusion, in as little as 40 years tallgrass prairie without fire can become a woodland.