NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/604047
DECEMBER 2015 • NEBRASKAland 53 fire is way more fun than spending all summer on a four-wheeler spraying herbicide. We can't keep up with the brush by just spraying." On Dec. 12 of last year, Christen, along with a crew of seven, burned a 200-acre rented pasture a few miles from his home. "The pasture had old brush piles and a million little cedars that needed burning," said Christen. "The fire also cleaned off the old grass thatch, which will make for good grazing next summer." While the day's temperatures hovered in the high 30s, the humidity stayed above 50 percent and the winds were only 5-10 miles per hour, the fire was effective. At dusk, with the fire over, still burning brush piles illuminated the charred skeletons of the cedars. "Why do we burn in spring? Because that is when we have always been told to burn," said Kent Pfeiffer, a Northern Prairies Land Trust ecologist stationed in Beatrice who was on the burn that day. "It is tradition, one that arose mostly in other places, such as the Kansas Flint Hills." There ranchers have been spring burning pastures since the 1880s to promote big bluestem, Indian grass and other summer-growing tall grasses. Yearling cattle are then heavily stocked on the lush grass regrowth. "This fire and grazing system really does not apply to Nebraska where we mostly graze cow-calf pairs and finish fattening cattle on corn," said Pfeiffer. Concerns that burning off grass in fall and winter will cause soil moisture loss, winter kill plants, and destroy wildlife habitat have been proven mostly unfounded. This is not to say that spring burning is not beneficial. Late spring burning, for example, sets back smooth brome, Kentucky bluegrass and other non- native, cool-season grasses that invade prairies and out-compete native plants. Safety is the prime reason both Pfeiffer and Christen prefer fall and winter burning to spring burning. "Winds this time of year are fairly stable, whereas spring winds can shift from one direction to another making fires unpredictable," said Pfeiffer. "Also in spring, the afternoon humidity often Smoke lingers during a late January tallgrass prairie and oak woodland prescribed burn in Jefferson County.