Prescribed Burns

[Ranch Dog]

I consider prescribed burns a huge part of my wildlife management practices and my burn season just finished! I burnt 91 acres. Here are some photos!

January 16 - Started by back burning a safe area around the homes on my place.



Typical fire breaks around burn units.





Moving the ground blinds out of the burn units.



I use a disc with a drag for the breaks. The breaks get extremely rutted up while the burn is going on, so I disk the breaks again after the burn to smooth the ruts out and then pack them with a cultipacker. After that, I don't drive on them again until after it rains and dries. These steps make for a hard, smooth road surface.







There is a burn ban in place in my County, but by Texas Code, I'm exempt from it with conditions that include a complete plan of conditions and actions; hence, the name, prescribed burn. I have all the required equipment, but probably one of the most important is my road signs. They keep traffic from calling 911. My County's Dispatch is notified of before the burn, and hopefully, the signs keep additional calls to a minimum.



The burns: February 8th.







February 16th





February 18th







Some finds





This year, the first two burns were with the help of a friend whose job includes performing prescribed burns on the properties he is responsible for. For the last burn, I worked solo, which will wear you out as you are doing all the walking (sometimes running) of at least two people.

[zippy]

Great photo essay for this gal, who thought she moved to the country when she left Brooklyn for a 100'x100' plot out on Long Island.

The details are befitting someone who makes engineering drawings measured in thousandths. Clarity so often lacking these days. Thanks.

[Ranch Dog]

You're welcome and thank you for your kind words!

[runfiverun]

nice.
you left partially and unburned areas intermingled.
if you get some decent rain your gonna have to mow the grass that comes up in the burned areas

[Ranch Dog]

nice.
you left partially and unburned areas intermingled.
if you get some decent rain your gonna have to mow the grass that comes up in the burned areas

I was about a week late on the last burn, it had greened up in a week's period. None of this get mowed, it is just pasture land.

[Coop 45]

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We just had a bushfire go through out the back of where we live. It took out 3500 hectares, 15 houses and a number of other farm buildings. It was started accidentally by a bloke cutting reo with an angle grinder. A combination of high winds and a few weeks of high temperatures pushed it along fairly quickly. Rural fire service issued the "too late to leave" warning in many areas. 200 firefighter, 50 trucks and over 10 aircraft including a Sikorsky sky crane.
Due to pressure from the green elements in Australian politics, planned burn offs in cooler months have become a thing of the past.

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[Ranch Dog]

Impressive pictures, the uneducated making decisions to limit this activity during appropriate periods is creating issues in this country as well, think California, but it is also surfacing in my State in once rural areas have been overrun by folks fleeing our cities. They just don't understand that the cycle of vegetive matter hitting the ground is fuel and the BTUs does not disappear for a very long time.

[alphalimafoxtrot]

Michael,

I am again impressed by your " leatherman tool" level of capabilities! But then again, I am also not surprised. All of your interests seem to receive the highest level of attention to detail - wish I would be so consistent!

In terms of "non-prescribed" beneficial burns, I want to mention a very effective but unplanned large fire in Shenandoah National Park not too long ago in my state. Although the SNP and Park Service do prescribed burns periodically, I don't believe they maintain much momentum due to local political pressures.

Anyway, the "big burn" or Rocky Mountain Fire in April of last year consumed about 10,000 acres of fuel. It was in the southern section of the SNP, started most likely by backcountry campers, and was very effective in clearing out timber that really needed to go. My wife and I hiked a 10-mile loop through it with our dogs a few weeks after the burn, it was an impressive hike. At some point I'll try and upload photos. I've never hiked through a recently burned mountain trail before - really wild to see how quickly the growth returns!

Adam

[Ranch Dog]

I appreciate our comments AF!

I don't believe they maintain much momentum due to local political pressures.

It is not only local but national pressures that start at the top with the Department of the Interior. It like any of the other Departments was infected by Obama Administration and is but an oozing wound of socialistic control issuing mandates that flow like pus.

Ahhh, that feels better!

[LowKey]

It is not only local but national pressures that start at the top with the Department of the Interior....

Ahhh, that feels better!

Lol, it's good to get things off one's chest!

For us city boys and girls, what benefits have you seen from your past burns?

Interesting stuff: Controlled Burns--Wikipedia