52 NEBRASKAland • DECEMBER 2015
T
he flames crept through the
green grass, billowing white
smoke skyward. Occasionally,
they snaked up through the spreading
branches of scattered cedars, slowly
engulfing them and spewing a distinct
oily, black smoke. Drawn by the plume,
droves of swallows plunged before the
fire, snatching fleeing insects.
This Pawnee County tallgrass prairie
burn was not a traditional spring
prescribed fire, as it happened on a hot
day last August. The encroachment
of eastern red cedars and brush into
grasslands and increasingly erratic
spring weather has some Nebraska
conservationists and landowners
burning in the fall, winter and even
during the heat of summer.
A Winter Burn
For Rod Christen of Pawnee
County, prescribed fire is critical to
his ranching operation. In the 1980s,
Christen along with his father, Richard,
experimented with burning their native
tallgrass pastures. "We were pretty
unsophisticated back then, to ignite
the fire we pulled a burning tire tied
behind a three-wheeler," said Christen
with a laugh. In the late 1990s, they
began burning again using more
refined techniques and pumper units
and drip torches rented from a local
grazing association.
Christen now annually burns 150
to 250 acres to set back the cedars,
buckbrush, sumac, dogwoods and
honey locust invading his pastures and
displacing forage. "Prescribed fire is
also the only economical way for me to
clean up the pastures I rent from people
without the means to control woody
species," said Christen. "And using
Burning Out
of Season
Summer, Fall and Winter
Prescribed Fires
Story and photos by Gerry Steinauer, Botanist
Bruce Winter, with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, watches over a summer
burn on The Nature Conservancy's Platte River Preserve in Hall County.
PHOTO
BY
CHRIS
HELZER
