Jocee Norton Bethany Hollis Macey Brooks Rebecca Krein Empacts Project Cecil 4/15/14 Pea Ridge Battlefield Prescribed Burning Introduction Prescribed burns involve the burning of controlled areas as a means of improving ecology and habitat, as well as, reducing occurrences and severity of wildfires. Prescribed burning is a very important management tool for maintaining and enhancing grasslands and forests. In many areas, fire has historically been an important part of the growth and regrowth of natural ecosystem of grasslands, forests, and wetlands. In nature, fires are ignited by lightning strikes. Native Americans were the first to discover that fire kill [s] woody plants, but encourage [s] fruit bearing shrubs, and forage producing grasslands (Prescribed Burning). Consequently, many tribes regularly burned grass and woodlands, and so have implemented prescribed burning for thousands of years, until humans started putting them out, disrupting the ecosystem. Today, prescribed burning is an effective management tool for restoring and maintaining native plant life, as well as recycling nutrients, controlling woody plants, improving forage, increasing plant growth, improving certain habitats, and reducing the risk of large wildfires. It is also more costeffective than bulldozing, cutting or other treatments. Many lands held in reserve by the state and national government regularly practice prescribed burning as a method for restoring and maintaining the ecological health of these lands. Pea Ridge National Military Park is one such example.
Methods Specific methods, objectives, and plans are established to reach the specific goals of each burn site. The more skilled the burn crew is the more likely the fire will be controlled and thus beneficial. Usually, the fire is started by a drip torch, which is a can of gas and diesel mixed with a long spout that is barely burning at the end. The drip torch drops the fuel and flame at a steady rate, allowing for a continuous fire line, and quicker, more efficient fire application. Generally, three or four people are needed on each fire line, or each fire boundary. The fire boss, who is in charge of operations, will ignite the fire. One or two people keep the fire on its correct path, and others help extinguish escaped flames. Safety equipment is also very important. Backpack water pumps and water vehicles, as well as fire brooms to smother small grass fires are readily available at a moment s notice in case the fire gets a little out of hand. First aid kits and plenty of drinking water are always nearby. Fireproof clothes, leather boots and gloves, along with eye protection and a hard hat are essential and should be worn at all times. Poorly managed burns can lead to property damage, injury, or death and even in well-managed burns accidents can occur. Weather has a huge effect on prescribed burning; therefore, certain weather conditions must be met before the burn can occur. Specialists write burn plans for prescribed fires that identify the best conditions for when the burn should occur. The burn plan takes into consideration temperature, humidity, wind, smoke dispersal, and the moisture of the plants. If the relative humidity is below 50 percent, the grass is to dry; but if it is above 70 percent, it is too moist to burn. Therefore, the ideal relative humidity for burning is between 50 and 70 percent. The temperature is also a key component when it comes to burning. If it below 32 degrees Fahrenheit outside, it is too cold for the fire to spread, if it is above 80 degree Fahrenheit, burning becomes more risky, so between the two is ideal. The ideal wind speed for a day of prescribed burning is between three and seven miles per hour. The wind direction also should stay steady. The Pea Ridge Battlefield Park has developed a Vegetation Management Plan which is in its final stages of approval. The results of burning differ at different times of year. Burning in dormant
season (fall) effects plant life less. Thus, dormant season burns are used for maintenance purposes to burn up leaf litter and other plant debris, known as fuel, which can cause wildfires. In the past, the park has mostly practiced dormant season burning for maintenance purposes, however the Vegetation Management Plan has shifted focus toward burning with an emphasis on resource management. The overall main purpose of the management plan is to get the park s ecology back to what it would have been like when the battle occurred in March of 1862. Toward this end the park has begun burning in the spring just before the plants bud out. This method will have a greater effect on non-fire resistant species. The park s cultural resources are already in place, for example fencing has been constructed as it would have been at the time of the battle when the area was divided into farms. The park is now trying to get natural resources in place. Historically, the area would have been primarily open woodland forest or savanna with prairie transitioning to savanna, to open woodland, to closed canopy forest. Today the woods are overstocked, meaning that there are too many trees per acre compared to how the habitat was historically. Therefore, in the woody areas a principal objective of burning is to increase mortality of trees. Right now there are 80-100 trees per acre. The goal is to reduce the number of trees to 40-60 trees per acre. It is not safe to burn fires hot enough to kill off the desired number of larger trees in one burn, so burning must be done over several consecutive years. The primary tree in the area at the time of the battle would have been post oak, today red oak dominates the park. Red oak is not fire resistant, consequently burning is an effective means of reducing red oak population. Cedar trees are also a target for reduction because at the time of the battle cedars would have made up one percent of the park, while today they account for just under fifty percent. A shrubby understory of woody plants 6-feet and under are also not desirable, only grasses should grow in the understory. Therefore plants such as dogwoods, redbuds, and spice bush, which now grow in the understory, are being targeted for reduction. In the Prairie/Savanna (grassy areas) of the park the goal is to have little or no woody plants. At this time of the year the main green grass in the park is fescue. Fescue was introduced in the mid-late 1800s, it is good for cattle but has no wildlife benefits. A major goal of the Vegetative Management Plan is to eliminate non-native, generally green, cool season grasses such as fescue, and instead to encourage
the restoration of native, generally brown, warm season grasses. The end result will mean, for the most part: no more green. Examples of desirable native warm season grasses being encouraged at the park include Indian grass, Switch grass, Big and Little Bluestem, Eastern Gamma, Side Oats Gramma, Prairie Drop seed, Broom Sedge. Habitat featuring native, warm season grasses is ideal for quail. In addition, habitat that encourages quail is also good for many other species of animals. For these reasons, quail has been identified as the keystone species for the Vegetative Management Plan. The park will aim to improved quail habitat, and monitor for increased quail population to determine the success of the restoration ecology project. Targeted/Invasive Plants Controlled By Fire: Dogwood Redbud Spice Bush Fescue Cedar Results Basically, the prescribed burn leaves the park looking healthy and clean, and looking more like its original state. The first day, our group went out to the park, we walked a firebreak, to clear hotspots (decayed leaves around dead tree stumps or piles of branches) as we went. The next time we all went to the park, we witnessed the fire itself. We watched the men set the fire with their jugs of fuel, moving with the fire against the wind. We took all sorts of photos and video to document the process, then returned each week for two weeks afterwards to see the regrowth. Within a week, you could look across the fields and see everything burnt with some green. Two weeks later, it was nothing but green with burnt brush sporadically throughout.
Conclusion The plan will take 5-10 years for the entire park, but timeliness of results will depend on the resources they are given to put toward projects. Each unit burns every 3-5 years, which is more frequent than the 5-7 year practiced when burning is aimed at maintenance and fuel reduction. Burning alone will not get park to the desired state. The plan will be completed through a combination of burning, herbicides, clearing, and planting native grasses. In the fields, the park has used the herbicide plateau, which kills C3 photosynthetic (cool season) plants, but does not affect C4 photosynthetic (warm season) plants. Ideas for Further Study Some ideas for further study are prescribed burning to reduce target plants, then seeding with the wanted plants. Seeds help promote the growth of the plants wanted. Another idea is varying the different fuels used to do the burning. Testing which fuel is more intense and which fuel is best for regeneration of the desired species.
Reference Citations Moore, Nolan. Pea Ridge National Battlefield; Division of Resource Management: Biological Science Technician., personal interviews, March-April 2014. "PRESCRIBED BURNING." Landowner's Guide: Prescribed Burning. N.p., 30 Dec. 1999. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. "Prescribed Fire." Prescribed Fire. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.