32 Nebraskaland • November 2022
prairie are interspersed on the dry, sandy upper bluff s, the
latter extending southward to the horizon.
As has happened throughout Nebraska, Euroamerican
settlement has aff ected the native Niobrara landscape. One
consequence of settlement, fi re suppression has allowed
eastern red-cedar, ponderosa pine and other woody plants
to proliferate to unnaturally high levels. Studies of fi re scars
in the growth rings of live old trees and the stumps of long-
dead trees dating back to the late 1600s show that, prior
to settlement, wildfi res occurred in the valley on average
every fi ve to 15 years. Frequent fi re maintained treeless
prairies; open, vigorous woodlands; and savannas, prairie
with scattered trees. In addition, the wide-burning fi res
periodically consumed downed wood, fallen conifer needles
and other fuels, keeping fi re intensity low to moderate.
Not allowing fi res to burn regularly has led to an over-
accumulation of fuels. Now, when wildfi res do start, they can
burn hot, as happened during the drought-stricken summer
2012, when lightning strikes set the Niobrara valley ablaze,
charring more than 76,000 acres and destroying miles of
livestock fence and several homes.
Beginning in the early 2000s, the conservancy hired
contractors to cut and pile cedars and smaller pines on the
bluff s near Brewer Bridge and elsewhere to combat the
abundance of trees and fuel. In March 2014, they conducted
a prescribed fi re on these bluff s; the aim was to consume the
dry tree piles and ground litter and kill uncut young cedars
and pines. Unfortunately, I had other obligations that day
and missed the burn.
In the years following that burn, the conservancy cut
additional cedars and pines from the bluff s, but the conifers
would not go down without a fi ght. New seedlings sprouted
and quickly grew to saplings and, if left unchecked, cedars
and pines would again choke the bluff s in a matter of decades.
Now, while trees were young and most vulnerable to heat
and fl ame, was the time to hit them again with fi re.
The Fire
Late in fall 2021, the central Niobrara valley was prime for
prescribed burning. There was no snow on the ground, and it
was unseasonably warm.
On the morning of Dec. 9, I was among the 15-person burn
crew that gathered in the parking lot near Brewer Bridge.
Flames creep through an oak grove as darkness settles on
the valley. GERRY STEINAUER, NEBRASKALAND
