By Mark Morales
Prescribed burning is an excellent tool for managing your property, especially if one of your objectives is to improve habitat for wildlife.
The ancient Greeks thought there were four elements that made up everything: earth, water, air, and fire. Fire has always been present in our ecosystems, and a large number of plant species are fire tolerant or fire dependent. Several weeks’ worth of blogs could be written about the benefits of prescribed burning. But it’s also easy to do research on the topic.
Do a quick browser search for benefits of prescribed burning, prescribed fire and wild turkey, quail and prescribed burning, etc… and you will find an overwhelming amount of information. You will find information from State and Federal Agencies, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), wildlife conservation groups, researchers, and fellow hunters. There will be research papers, podcasts, blogs, and videos covering almost any question you can imagine.
Many private landowners already know that prescribed burning would benefit their property and meet their wildlife habitat objectives. However, they either don’t have a background with utilizing fire as a management tool, or they are intimidated by fire. The comments I often hear go something like: “I’m scared of fire,” or “I don’t know what I’m doing,” or “I don’t have the equipment to do a burn,” and “I don’t have anyone to help me.” They are all understandable concerns, but there are ways to help with each of those.
A good place to start is a Prescribed Burn Association, or PBA. PBA’s are groups of landowners that have joined together to pool knowledge, equipment, training and resources to safely conduct prescribed burns. Neighbors helping neighbors. I recently became the President of a PBA and we have a mix of experience, from myself with over 30 years of burning with a Federal Agency, to first-time burners. We have members that have been burning on their property for over a decade that have learned on their own over turn time.
My home state of Arkansas recently enacted a Qualified Prescribed Burner (QPB) program geared to private landowners. Our state is roughly 90% owned by private landowners, so no matter how good the State and Federal Agencies are, they can only affect 10% of the land. Landowners attend a two-day class that is taught by employees from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas Forestry Division. Some of the topics discussed are Arkansas laws regarding prescribed burning, safety, equipment, how to write a prescribed burn plan, fire weather, fuels, smoke management, ignition techniques, day of the burn, and post burn.
Once the participants have attended the course and passed the final test, they will receive a Qualified Prescribed Burner certification card. A recent state law can provide civil liability protection to QPBs that have a written burn plan with a prescription, and weather parameters and follow that plan and don’t act negligently.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission created the PBA program in the state over two years ago, following what numerous other states had done. Last year, the Arkansas Prescribed Burn Association was formed as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and took over the PBA operations. Groups of two-to-four counties have joined together to form a smaller PBA, much like a Chapter. Each PBA has a leadership organization and by-laws approved by the state PBA. Once a PBA has been formed, they receive an enclosed trailer with equipment such as drip torches, radios, hand tools, backpack blowers, water tanks for ATVs or UTVs, and some personal protective equipment. This can be used by any PBA member. You can find the Arkansas PBA at arfire.org.
PBA’s can help with each of those concerns I typically hear. PBA members can get training, gain access to equipment, find neighbors to help them, and go help others to gain experience and get more comfortable.
The Great Plains Fire Exchange has an interactive map showing some of the PBAs across the country, and they are reaching out across the country to find more and add them. It can be found at gpfirescience.org.
The folks at Alpha Innovations have provided some links on their webpage to help private landowners with resources to help them make good decisions about potential burn days. They will add some new links in the near future. Go to their page at alpharackusa.com then hover over Fire Resources, and then Helpful Links.
If you’re interested in burning, consider a local PBA. They might be able to help you with your concerns — Neighbors helping neighbors.
