Wildfire Today

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Wildfire Today

Tag: prescribed fire

Mark Twain NF igniting 7,000-acre prescribed fire today

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 9 Comments on Mark Twain NF igniting 7,000-acre prescribed fire today

The Mark Twain National Forest is igniting the 6,971-acre Brush Creek and Clayton Ridge prescribed fire today. The project is in southwest Missouri, about 15 miles southwest of Ava. Much of it will be lit with Redding Air Service‘s helicopter 57Z, a Bell 206 L4.

Brush Creek and Clayton Ridge project map
The Brush Creek and Clayton Ridge project is shown in red. USFS map.

Here is a link to a more detailed map.

The objectives of the project are to maintain and improve glade and savanna ecosystems by prescribed burning every three to five years. Encroaching eastern red cedars are removed mechanically by USFS personnel.

This is a huge prescribed fire. Does anyone know of any other large prescribed fires recently completed or planned in the near future, say, larger than 3,000 acres?

Fort Stewart: 120,000 prescribed fire acres a year

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 1 Comment on Fort Stewart: 120,000 prescribed fire acres a year

Fort Stewart, the home of the 3rd Infantry Division in eastern Georgia (map), claims that they burn up to 120,000 acres each year in prescribed fires, almost half of the base’s 280,000 acres. They say it is more than any other organization in the United States. Pretty impressive. Sometimes fire personnel in federal, state, local, or private organizations forget how involved some military bases are in wildland fire.

This video introduces us to the prescribed fire program at Fort Stewart.

Mount Rushmore drafts plan for Mountain Pine Beetle

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , 2 Comments on Mount Rushmore drafts plan for Mountain Pine Beetle
Mount Rushmore looking down from the top
Mount Rushmore administrative site, looking down from just below the sculpture . Photo by Bill Gabbert

Mount Rushmore National Memorial has posted a draft plan on how they intend to manage the mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic that is headed their way.  The problem is real, with the beetles staged just outside the memorial’s boundary on U.S. Forest Service land. While the critters are native to South Dakota and much of the western US, if they wipe out most of the Ponderosa pines near the sculpture in a epidemic caused by years of drought, it will not be a very pleasing sight for the 2.5 million visitors that trek there every year.

The plan calls for thinning most of the 1,200-acre site, spraying some areas, and treating much of the site with prescribed fire. They are asking for $5,653,150 through FY 2014. That works out to $4,710 per acre. Here is a summary of their treatment recommendations.

  • Spraying high value trees with insecticide to prevent loss within the developed area
  • Search, mark, and remove infested trees throughout the Memorial
  • Thin forests along the Highway 244 corridor to create a fuel and bug break
  • Thin forests throughout the Memorial to varying density and age class levels
  • Thin a 300 foot MPB and fire break along the south, west, and east boundary of the Memorial
  • Introduce prescribed fire throughout the Memorial after thinning
  • Communicate MPB management issues to the public

The memorial has enough funding to begin implementing the plan if it is approved, but they will be asking for more dollars to work on the list above, plus hiring four employees, including interpreters and a public information officer.

More on that below.

Continue reading “Mount Rushmore drafts plan for Mountain Pine Beetle”

Driftwood piles being burned on frozen Pactola Lake

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags
Burning piles on the frozen Lake Pactola.
Taken with my Droid cell phone a couple of hours after the piles were first ignited.

The driftwood piles at Pactola lake are being burned on top of the frozen lake surface. The six piles were ignited easily with a propane weed burner. I will post more pictures later.

Below is an update and better photos–taken with an actual camera.

Continue reading “Driftwood piles being burned on frozen Pactola Lake”

Is prescribed fire science still developing?

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 2 Comments on Is prescribed fire science still developing?

Last week the Secretary of the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) in Victoria, Australia told the Royal Commission that is looking into last year’s Black Saturday fires that he would not support a 4 to 6 percent increase in prescribed burning, partly because the science was still developing.

But a seven-member panel made up of fire ecologists, CSIRO fire researcher Phil Cheney, and Jerry Williams, former Chief of the U. S. Forest Service, said there is plenty of science available to support burning 5 to 10 percent of Victoria’s forests each year.

Cheney said a good prescribed fire will stop a bushfire for one to two years, and after three years will have a “profound effect” in reducing the rate of spread. For as long as 20 years embers and flame height will be reduced.

Jerry Williams said prescribed fire had an effect even in extreme conditions.

A person might say the science of prescribed burning has been developing for many centuries since indigenous people began routinely setting prescribed fires to enhance the habitat for the plants and animals they needed for survival. In 1804 and 1805 Lewis and Clark documented the use of prescribed fire by native Americans (but at least one of them had an unfortunate result). At some point we have to admit that the science has reached a level of maturity.

Abraham Lincoln said:

Things may come to those who wait…but only the things left by those who hustle.

From the DSE’s Fire Ecology web page:

Fire is a natural part of the Australian environment and has been so for millions of years. Natural ignition (lightning) and indigenous burning practices have shaped our ecosystems over tens of thousands of years.

From Bill Gabbert, February 22, 2010:

Prescribed fire, when applied wisely by experienced fire management personnel, is an essential land management tool.


via @FireInfoGirl

Researchers study how prescribed fires affected Black Saturday fires

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , , 2 Comments on Researchers study how prescribed fires affected Black Saturday fires

Research scientist Lachlan McCaw led a team that studied the effects that previous planned or unplanned fires had on the spread of the disastrous Black Saturday fires a year ago in Australia. Unsurprisingly, he concluded that the intensity was reduced and the areas provided anchor points for firefighters, but larger prescribed fires were more effective than small ones.

DUH. To many of us this is intuitive, but documenting this data can help to rebut the uninformed rants of those in Australia that are opposed to prescribed fires.

Here is an excerpt from a report in The Australian:

Dr McCaw said that across the areas burned on Black Saturday, there was no evidence that small-area fuel reduction had curbed the fires, but strong evidence of an impact where planned or unplanned burns had occurred within four years and over broad areas of more than 600ha.

Where the Kilmore fire, burning with great intensity about 3pm on Black Saturday, met a relatively small area of four-year-old growth, it was quickly outflanked.

About 6.30pm, when the fire met a 1600ha area burnt by wildfire in January 2006, it burned with low intensity.

Dr McCaw said the severity of the Beechworth fire on Black Saturday was reduced by burns that had been conducted one year, two years and four years previously, that had also provided “anchor points” for fire fighting.

Asked about the effectiveness of small “mosaic” burns that left areas of unburnt vegetation for biodiversity conservation, Dr McCaw said if the primary objective of planned burning was community protection, “you would have to be pursuing fairly high levels of fuel reduction”.