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The Great Plains Fire Science Exchange exists to assist land managers and the fire
community to make sound decisions based on the best possible information.
Through this information sharing process, we hope to strengthen collaboration within the fire
community in the region in addition to having information available for policy makers.
Those who produce fire science as well as those interested in applying the science are all welcome in the Exchange.
Being inclusive, striving to make sure that all relevant partners have the opportunity to be involved.
Serving as neutral science partners, not as an advocate for a certain type of management.
Ensuring activities are end-user driven, both in how they are structured and how they function.
Operating collaboratively, working to foster joint management and science communication.
Striving to be innovative, pursuing new and creative ways to disseminate knowledge.
Working to facilitate the flow of fire science information, the dialogue of new science findings and the needs of resource managers and policymakers.
Research Supporting Sound Decisions
Invasive plant species impact rangelands across the Great Plains, such as this woody plant encroachment in the Nebraska sandhills.
The Great Plains encompasses multiple ecosystems from the tallgrass prairie of the east and shortgrass prairie of the west, to the mixed grass prairie of the north and coastal shrublands of the south. Precipitation, climate, soils, geology and topography all contribute to regional complexity. Fire management practices and concerns vary throughout the region, but include several large scale commonalities such as:
Invasive plant encroachment, due to lack of fire
Regulatory concerns, such as smoke management, burn bans and liability
Use of grassland prescribed fire techniques
Climate change leading to shifting vegetation
A growing wildland-urban interface
Extensive private-land ownership and numerous tribal nations
Fire is an inherent characteristic of grassland ecosystems. We humans share the Great Plains ecosystem with many fire-dependent plants and animals. Becoming “people of fire” involved acknowledging the natural landscape in which we live, with it’s benefits and consequences. Science can provide insight for making the complex decisions that meet the needs of both humans and the ecosystem.
Exchange Guidance
Great Plains Fire Science is guided by a Board of Directors consisting of representatives from a variety of agencies, organizations, specialties, and geographies within the region. The board serves limited terms and provides input via meetings, conference calls, and other media. Duties of the board include:
Promoting accountability, fiscal responsibility, and effectiveness within the GPE
Overseeing and prioritizing GPE-specific goals and objectives
Reviewing annual work plans and budget
Ensureing the program provides useful information that is relevant to issues being confronted by fire practitioners
Identifying strategies for leveraging funds, partnerships, and personnel to best accomplish GPE objectives
Serving as ambassadors for the consortium by soliciting feedback and ideas from ongoing interactions with the fire management and research communities
Great Plains Fire Science Exchange products receive peer review prior to publication. Syntheses receive at least two peer reviews in addition to the editor’s approval. Research briefs are approved by an author of the article being summarized and video product scripts are also peer reviewed prior to publication. Tracking numbers are assigned after final approval. We seek to bring the best quality science products to the fire community we can.
Ben Wheeler has produced a really nice publication on fire breaks. He reviews several construction types and provides criteria for choosing and implementing them.
Using fire during the growing season is a promising new way to manage sericea lespedea in tallgrass prairies. Growing season burns offer advantages beyond sericea control, including easier to contain fires and a second chance to burn acres omitted during the dormant season.
Considerable prescribed fire research has been conducted on Ashe juniper (Juniperus ashei) and redberry juniper (J. pinchotii) communities in Texas. Prescribed fire is an effective, cost competitive method of controlling juniper. This paper outlines how to safely and efficiently conduct prescribed fires in juniper communities and discusses vegetation responses in the two major juniper types found in Texas.
The fire ecology program for the Central Great Plains region, embedded within the Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network (HTLN), is multifaceted. It serves as an integrating factor among the vital signs projects already in place within HTLN as well as integrating HTLN into the Midwest Region Fire programs.
Sampling methods used are a hybrid of those described in the HTLN vegetation monitoring protocol and the NPS Fire Monitoring Handbook. The fire ecology program has adapted the protocols described in the Fire Monitoring Handbook to synchronize with the existing sample site array established by HTLN. In this way, both short-term fire ecology data and long-term vegetation monitoring data are collected in a complementary fashion
Key Points: Changes in wildland fire regime have led to an expansion of eastern redcedar in tallgrass prairie. Increased eastern redcedar leads to decreased herbaceous biodiversity, decreased forage production, and increased Wildland Urban Interface concerns.
The workshop held on March 18-19, 2014 was developed to share current knowledge, technical information, practical management information, and provide training opportunities for private local, federal and state participants that either manage land or work with land managers.
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.