Prescription to Burn - Texas Parks and Wildlife [Official] Video Lecture | Hunter Education: Becoming an Expert Hunter - Hobbies

[sirens]
FIRE CAN DESTROY LIVES
AND PROPERTY.
IT CAN DESTROY HOPES
AND DREAMS.
This was the dining room here
and we're standing in the
kitchen,
which is where the fire started.
WE ARE CONDITIONED TO FEAR FIRE,
TO REACT TO IT,
TO EXTINGUISH IT.
[helicopter]
BUT FIRE CAN BE A TOOL
AND LIKE ANY TOOL, THE
CORRECT USE OF FIRE
CAN HAVE VERY POSITIVE RESULTS.
Our primary purpose for
lighting fires
is to benefit the wildlife
habitat through the use of fire.
Most of these ecosystems
did evolve with fire.
The plants are adapted to fire.
In the absence of fire, the
ecosystem gets out of balance.
[music]
BEFORE EUROPEAN SETTLERS
ARRIVED,
FIRE WAS A NATURAL PART
OF THE ENVIRONMENT.
LIGHTNING STRIKES IGNITED
GROUND FIRES.
AND NATIVE AMERICANS
INTENTIONALLY SET FIRES
TO ATTRACT GAME ANIMALS.
BURNING REMOVES EXCESS
DEBRIS AND STIMULATES GROWTH.
[crackling flames]
WHEN FIRE IS SURPRESSED,
SOME PLANT SPECIES
CAN PROLIFERATE AND
EVENTUALLY DOMINATE THE HABITAT.
APPLYING FIRE METHODICALLY
TO ENHANCE OR CONTROL A
PARTICULAR HABITAT
IS KNOWN AS A
PRESCRIBED BURN.
IT MAY BE TO STIMULATE
LOBLOLLY PINES IN EAST TEXAS.
IT MAY BE TO PROMOTE FOOD FOR
WILDLIFE IN THE TRANS-PECOS.
IT MAY BE TO SUPRESS GRASS AND
REMOVE UNDERGROWTH
IN CENTRAL TEXAS.
THERE IS A STRATEGY IN IGNITING
A PRESRIBED BURN
THAT CONTROLS THE FIRE.
ON THE DOWNWIND SIDE OF A
TRACT OF LAND,
A BACKFIRE IS SET INSIDE
A FIRE LANE.
THIS BACKS SLOWLY INTO THE WIND
CREATING A BLACK LINE.
NEXT, THE FLANKS ARE
IGNITED
WHICH ALSO SLOWLY
CREEP TOWARD THE CENTER.
FINALLY, A HEAD FIRE IS SET.
MOVING WITH THE WIND,
THIS ALLOWS THE FIRE TO
BURN OUT AND CONSUME ITSELF.
We're standing at the
Eckhart North Burn Unit
on the Balcones Canyonlands
National Wildlife Refuge.
Our objectives for this burn
were to kill about 50% of the
juvenile junipers
in this woodland that's between
2 different grasslands.
And as you look out through the
woodlands, you can see
that we pretty much achieved
those objectives.
Texas Parks and Wildlife, the
Kerr Wildlife Management Area
over in Kerrville has done
a lot of research over the years
on prescribed burning
in the Hill Country.
The late Donnie Harmel and
Bill Armstrong,
pretty much the grand daddies
of burning in the Hill Country,
and we've relied on their
research results
to implement our own
burn program
here at Balcones Canyonlands.
When the Kerr Wildlife
Management Area
was first purchased in 1954,
it was basically a
solid cedar brake.
It had big mature cedar
all over the area.
We conducted some food habits
on cows, on sheep, on goats,
and on white-tailed deer and
found out that
nothing liked to eat cedar.
So in the mid-1960's we came in
and we cut the cedar
off the area.
By 1972 new re-growth cedar
had begun to sprout all
over the area
and we cut it off at a cost
of about $8 an acre.
By 1979 nothing yet had
learned to eat cedar
and cedar was growing
back again on the area
and we were going to
have to cut it off again
but this time it was going to
cost us around $30 an acre.
So in 1979, in an effort to
control that re-growth cedar,
we began to reapply
fire to the area.
[fire crackles]
[dozer]
To mechanically control
most of this cedar,
you're talking about anywhere
from $10 to $20
even up to $30 an acre
to get that done.
Burning, on the other hand,
can be done probably on average,
depending on what size acreage
you burn at a time,
for about $2.50 and acre.
The cheapest burn we've
conducted out here
cost us 25 cents an acre to
actually conduct that burn.
[fire crackles]
[wind]
This pasture was burned
in February of this year.
We had rested the pasture
prior to the burn.
There was about 1200 pounds
of grass out here,
and that's grass about
that tall.
We ran the fire
across the pasture
and you can see these
cedars right here
were easily killed by the fire
but if you look at this plant
right over here,
this is live oak.
You can see we didn't harm
the over-story live oak.
[fire crackles]
I first heard about
burning in 1988
but it wasn't until I attended
a seminar in 1990
at the Kerr Wildlife
Management Area
that I really heard
Bill Armstrong
go into prescribed
burning in depth.
And it was at that time
that I really thought,
'I need to try this
on my ranch.'
I would say I've saved probably
thousands of dollars
because I paid to have this
cedar cut back in 1991
and if we hadn't been
conducting these burns,
I would be facing paying
that all over again.
LANDOWNERS SHOULD NEVER
ATTEMPT A PRESCRIBED BURN
WITHOUT PROPER TRAINING
AND CHECKING WITH
COUNTY OFFICIALS
ABOUT CURRENT RESTRICTIONS
ON BURNING.
If you've ever tried
to put a fire out,
you probably poured water on it.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT
PRESCRIBED BURNS,
THE KERR WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
AREA IS A GOOD PLACE TO START.
Understanding the function
of soil moisture
in cooling that fire and
the temperature of the fire
can be an important thing
for you to know
when you're designing a fire
for your particular
piece of land.
THESE FREE TOURS ARE
USUALLY CONDUCTED
THE 1ST FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH
FROM MARCH UNTIL OCTOBER.
[music]
When we first started our
burn programs out here
I think most people
thought we were crazy
and as a result of the
economics
of cedar control with fire
a lot of people now
are practicing
using prescribed burns to
control re-growth cedar and to
actually make their lands
more diverse with vegetation.
[music]
There's nothing like
actually getting out
and being one with the land.
That's what burning is,
you know,
it's definitely 100% hands on.
The best satisfaction is to
come back later on,
even in the spring and see
how well things greened up
and just how healthy
things looked.
That's the best satisfaction.
[music]