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/695082
JULY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 39 private land or the Nebraska National Forest, and possibly in the Wildcat Hills and central Niobrara River valley. But these stands are likely few and far between. It's unfortunate, as old-growth pine forests provide unique habitats for rare plants, such as orchids and wintergreens, and bird and bat species. Wildfire and the Future of Nebraska Pinelands A single century of settlement has wrought extreme change to Nebraska's pine ecosystems and to the fires that forged them. Historically, they were an open mosaic of both young and old pines, where frequent fires limited tree densities and fuel loads. While logging has removed nearly all the stately large trees, fire suppression has led to a proliferation of young pines and abundant ground fuels. Nickerson wrote of the Pine Ridge: "An acre that had 30 to 50 ponderosa pines before European settlement might now have 2,000 to 3,000 trees." Such overcrowded, fuel-heavy forests are literal tinderboxes. Today, when lightning or humans trigger a wildfire during the heat and dryness of late summer they can burn with a never-before-seen intensity and magnitude. Major wildfires burned in the Pine Ridge in 1989, 2006, 2007 and 2012. The 2012 fires alone burned nearly 77,000 acres of forest; mostly as intense ground fires, but in areas the flames crowned out large swaths of pines, threatened homes and put a well-justified fear into the hearts of local residents. In 2012, wildfires also raged in the central Niobrara valley. The Fairfield Creek Fire burned almost 67,000 acres of pine and cedar woods and prairie. To date, the less densely wooded Wildcat Hills have escaped the recent wave of high-intensity fires. Climate change, bringing more droughts and hotter summer days, will exacerbate the wildfires. But all is not doom and gloom, at least from an ecological perspective. Once viewed as unilaterally destructive, an increasing number of scientists are viewing severe fires as a natural and needed component in ponderosa pine ecosystems. "We lost about 600 acres of pines on the Petersen WMA during the 1989 Fort Robinson Fire," said Schenbeck. "Fortunately, most areas where the pines crowned out reverted to beautiful mixed-grass prairie. Where large pines survived, their seeds have sprouted young trees. The pines on the Petersen are probably now at about presettlement levels." Schenbeck, however, has concerns about some severely burned areas of the Ridge. "The 2006 Roberts Fire hit areas of the Nebraska National Forest hard, but around Indian and Cunningham creeks, a few nice pine stands survived. They looked like classic pine savanna with big, old fire-resistant trees," said Schenbeck. "But when the area burned again during the 2012 wildfires, all the dead and downed trees from the 2006 fire burned so hot we lost most of the remaining living pines. It was discouraging. Without the downfall, the re-burn would have been less intense and the big pines would have survived." Schenbeck also worries about the non-native cheatgrass invading areas with scorched, exposed soils, slowing or preventing the recovery of native vegetation. In areas severely burned during the 2012 Pine Ridge wildfires, the Nebraska Forest Service and other conservation groups are trying to save "green islands" of still living pines from future wildfires by cutting nearby dead standing pines which are mostly piled and burned in winter, reducing JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU JU J LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY LY 201 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 016 6 6 6 • NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE N BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BRAS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS ASKA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KAla la la la la la la la la la la la la land nd nd nd nd nd nd nd nd nd nd nd nd nd nd n 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 A crown fi re rages through an unnaturally dense pine forest during the 1985 McIntosh Fire in the Pine Ridge. PHOT PHOTO BY O BY BOB BOB GRI G ER E