Characteristics of burns conducted under modified prescriptions to mitigate limited fuels in a semi-arid grassland

Abstract

In semi-arid grasslands of the North American Great Plains, fire has traditionally been viewed as having few management applications, and quantitative measurements of fire behavior in the low fuel loads characteristic of this region are lacking. More recently, land managers have recognized potential applications of prescribed fire to control undesirable plant species and to manage habitat for wildlife in this region. Working in the shortgrass steppe of northeastern Colorado over a 7-year period, we quantified peak temperatures, heating duration, and heat dosage produced near ground level during prescribed burns conducted under a wide range of fuel loads and weather conditions. We use an information theoretic approach to develop models that predict peak temperature and heat dosage as a function of weather parameters and fuel loads. Under the weather conditions that we examined, successful burns (>80 % of target area burnt) occurred with fuel loads varying from 350 kg ha-1 to 1175 kg ha-1, while burns with fuel loads

Citation

Augustine, David J.; Derner, Justin D.; Smith, David P. 2014. Characteristics of burns conducted under modified prescriptions to mitigate limited fuels in a semi-arid grassland. Fire Ecology. 10(2): 36-47.