K-12 Education

Fire is common in the western Great Plains, but much less well studied than in eastern prairies. Wildfires most commonly occur in July and August in these semi-arid rangelands covered with cool-season grasses, but the impact of summer fires has not been well researched.

2017-04

As land has been converging to crops, fire has been suppressed, coyotes have been controlled and tree and shrub cover in rangelands has increased. Thus, swift fox populations have severely declined in number and have become cut off from one another. Returning fire to the landscape may improve habitat for swift foxes.

2017-03

Purple threeawn reproduces from seed and vegetatively from basal buds, the source for new tillers. While typically a minor grassland species, it increases with intensive disturbance and can persist at high levels decades afterward.

2017-02

Although there is a wealth of knowledge of plant and avian responses to fire in the Great Plains, responses are not as well understood for arthropods, including insects, spiders, and their close relatives.

2016-09

In Great Plains grasslands, grasses are typically the dominant plant life form because of their exceptional competitive abilities. When grasses are subjected to a period of intense grazing pressure, such as in the most recently burned patch of a patch burn grazed pasture, non‐grass plants in the same patch may experience a period of release from competition with the grasses.

2014-01

Patch burn grazing is burning different patches of a pasture at different times and allowing animals to select where they want to graze. Originally conceived as an alternative to uniform utilization, patch burn grazing manages for vegetation structural diversity to conserve biodiversity while also sustaining the rangeland resource.

2013-19

This is an interesting question given the diversity of standards in legislation and regulations related to certified prescribed burn managers (CPBM) across the region. In most states, statutory requirements for liability protection under either standard include a burn permit but are more variable with respect to the presence of a CPBM at the burn, written prescriptions, adequate personnel and firebreaks, and burn ban exemptions.

2016-01

Prescribed burning is widely accepted as a critical management tool in the tallgrass prairie, however, the ecological effects of burning at different times of the season are poorly understood. In the Kansas Flint Hills, timing of fire is an important management issue that carries socio-economic as well as ecological implications.

2014-26

Fuels management typically involves changing fuel structure or amount. Fuels management in woodlands conjures up visions of burning, tree felling, and mastication among other techniques, but grassland fuels management requires very different approaches.

2013-28