Author: Henry A. WrightPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
Fire Ecology and Prescribed Burning in the Great Plains
Author: Henry A. WrightPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
The Great Plains
Author: Stephen J. PynePublisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816536163
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
Early descriptions of the Great Plains often focus on a vast, grassy expanse that was either burnt or burning. The scene continued to burn until the land was plowed under or grazed away and broken by innumerable roads and towns. Yet, where the original landscape has persisted, so has fire, and where people have sought to restore something of that original setting, they have had to reinstate fire. This has required the persistence or creation of a fire culture, which in turn inspired schools of science and art that make the Great Plains today a regional hearth for American fire. Volume 5 of To the Last Smoke introduces a region that once lay at the geographic heart of American fire, and today promises to reclaim something of that heritage. After all these years, the Great Plains continue to bear witness to how fires can shape contemporary life, and vice versa. In this collection of essays, Stephen J. Pyne explores how this once most regularly and widely burned province of North America, composed of various subregions and peoples, has been shaped by the flames contained within it and what fire, both tame and feral, might mean for the future of its landscapes. Included in this volume: How wildland and rural fire have changed from the 19th century to the 21st century How fire is managed in the nation’s historic tallgrass prairies, from Texas to South Dakota, from Illinois to Nebraska How fire connects with other themes of Great Plains life and culture How and why Texas has returned to the national narrative of landscape fire
Educators Guide to Great Plains Fire Ecology
Author: Prairie Fire
Author: Julie CourtwrightPublisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700635130
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
Prairie fires have always been a spectacular and dangerous part of the Great Plains. Nineteenth-century settlers sometimes lost their lives to uncontrolled blazes, and today ranchers such as those in the Flint Hills of Kansas manage the grasslands through controlled burning. Even small fires, overlooked by history, changed lives-destroyed someone's property, threatened someone's safety, or simply made someone's breath catch because of their astounding beauty. Julie Courtwright, who was born and raised in the tallgrass prairie of Butler County, Kansas, knows prairie fires well. In this first comprehensive environmental history of her subject, Courtwright vividly recounts how fire-setting it, fighting it, watching it, fearing it-has bound Plains people to each other and to the prairies themselves for centuries. She traces the history of both natural and intentional fires from Native American practices to the current use of controlled burns as an effective land management tool, along the way sharing the personal accounts of people whose lives have been touched by fire. The book ranges from Texas to the Dakotas and from the 1500s to modern times. It tells how Native Americans learned how to replicate the effects of natural lightning fires, thus maintaining the prairie ecosystem. Native peoples fired the prairie to aid in the hunt, and also as a weapon in war. White settlers learned from them that burns renewed the grasslands for grazing; but as more towns developed, settlers began to suppress fires-now viewed as a threat to their property and safety. Fire suppression had as dramatic an environmental impact as fire application. Suppression allowed the growth of water-wasting trees and caused a thick growth of old grass to build up over time, creating a dangerous environment for accidental fires. Courtwright calls on a wide range of sources: diary entries and oral histories from survivors, colorful newspaper accounts, military weather records, and artifacts of popular culture from Gene Autry stories to country song lyrics to Little House on the Prairie. Through this multiplicity of voices, she shows us how prairie fires have always been a significant part of the Great Plains experience-and how each fire that burned across the prairies over hundreds of years is part of someone's life story. By unfolding these personal narratives while looking at the bigger environmental picture, Courtwright blends poetic prose with careful scholarship to fashion a thoughtful paean to prairie fire. It will enlighten environmental and Western historians and renew a sense of wonder in the people of the Plains.
Prescribed Burning Guidelines in the Northern Great Plains
Author: Kenneth F. HigginsPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Burning of land
Languages : en
Pages : 40
Book Description
Fire Ecology and Prescribed Burning in the Great Plains
Author: Henry A. WrightPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 60
Book Description
Historical evidence indicates that fires were prevalent in grasslands. In the past, big prairie fires usually occurred during drought years that followed 1 to 3 years of above-average precipitation, which provided abundant and continuous fuel. Fire frequency probably varied from 5 to 10 years in level-to-rolling topography and from 15 to 30 years in the rougher, dissected topography containing rough breaks and rivers. This paper contains basic ecological information, vegetative descriptions, and fire effects data for the shortgrass, mixed grass, and tallgrass prairies in the southern, central, and northern Great Plains. In the appendix, fire effects data have been tabulated for each species for quick reference. Prescription guides are provided for all major vegetation types where prescribed burning data have been collected. In the shortgrass prairie, grasses do not benefit from prescribed burning, but fire can be used to clean up uprooted brush, kill small juniper, and kill cactus. Prescribed fire has a wider variety of uses in the mixed and tallgrass prairies, particularly if the burns are conducted following winters with above-average precipitation. Major benefits of prescibed burning are to control undesirable shrubs and trees, burn dead debris, increase herbage yields, increase utilization of coarse grasses, increase availability of forage, improve wildlife habitat, and to control exotic, cool-season grasses. Often, several objectives can be achieved simultaneously. Prescribed fire frequency should not be more often than 5 to 8 years in a 20-inch (51-cm) precipitation zone but can be as often as 1 to 3 years in a 35- to 40- inch (89- to 102-cm) precipitation zone. Good soil moisture in the upper 1 ft (0.3 m) of soil is especially important before conducting a prescribed burn if the goal is to increase yield and palatability of forage. If control of shrubs is the primary consideration, such as in juniper country, burning during drought years may have the best long-term effect. To use prescribed fire is not as dangerous as most people think, providing it is done by experienced personnel. We recommed a minimum of 2 years of prescribed burning experience under a range of weather conditions for individuals having major supervisory responsibilities. Moreover, we recommend that supervisors be trained in planning and conducting burns and in evaluating the weather. To achieve a desired effect and for safety, one must have the skill to recognize, and the patience to wait for favorable weather.
Effects of Fire in the Northern Great Plains
Author: Kenneth F. HigginsPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 52
Book Description
Annotated Bibliography of Fire Literature Relative to Northern Grasslands in South-central Canada and North-central United States
Author: Prairie Fire
Author: Julie CourtwrightPublisher:
ISBN: 9780700617944
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The first comprehensive environmental history of prairie fire on the Great Plains. Traces the history of both natural and intentional fires from pre-Columbian Native American practices to the current use of controlled burns as an effective land management tool. Shows the impact fire has had in shaping the identity of both the Great Plains people and their land.
Author: