Released July 30, 2009
STILLWATER, Okla. – It might sound crazy but prescribed burning during the summer months is just as, if not more, effective than the traditional spring burns.
That was the message approximately 100 people received during the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Fire Field Day at the Oklahoma State University Range Research Station received recently.
“We’re trying to get rid of the old mentality that people grew up with, that you can’t burn in the summer because it doesn’t benefit anything,” said John Weir, OSU Cooperative Extension rangeland ecology and management specialist. “It’s not what they imagine in their minds, that its going to kill the grass or that it’s a raging inferno and that it can’t achieve (needed) goals.”
Weir simply looks at the history of fire in Oklahoma and wonders what the difference is today.
“Historically, this land burned anytime of the year, and it’s still here and it’s still good,” Weir said. “It burned then. Why wouldn’t it burn today?”
The answer to that question: It will.
“You can burn in any month of the year; some of the months that a lot of people don’t think about burning in, like July and August, are actually some of the better conditioned months to burn in,” said Jim Trapp, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service associate director.
In short, the burning conditions are more conducive and there are more days to potentially hold and complete a burn.
“If you restrict yourself to February, March and April, you may not be able to get the burning done that you should for the management practices that you’re trying to achieve,” Trapp said.
Field day participants came from across Oklahoma and surrounding states. They heard from specialists regarding the effects on invasive plant species, wildlife, cattle production, soil nutrient levels and other aspects dealing with prescribed fire.
“This field day was all about reintroducing fire in an environmentally, ecologically safe way, (as well as) an economically feasible way,” said Keith Owens, head of OSU’s department of natural resource ecology and management. “People got a chance to see how easy this is to do and how safe it is compared to what they are used to in the winter.”
A patch burn demonstration allowed the attendees to get a firsthand view of the effectiveness of a summer burn. Weir and his team proved their point, even though conditions were less than ideal, with very low wind speeds, high humidity and damp grass.
“We showed everyone the positive effects of summer burns,” he said. “A lot of people thought, ‘Hey, this is not going to burn,’ but (it burned just fine). I’m happy.”
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Writer: Sean Hubbard, 405-744-4490, sean.hubbard@okstate.edu
