Burn Today

There are no prescribed burns planned for today.

Prescribed burns are usually conducted to meet the following Resource Management Objectives: 

• Improve and maintain functional habitat for native tallgrass and wet meadow plant species, including the federally-listed Ute ladies-tresses orchid, by reducing litter, suppressing non-native cool season forbs and grasses, and reducing tree encroachment.
• Reduce litter by 70-90 percent to stimulate an increase in native herbaceous cover.
• Reduce the cover of Canada thistle by directly impacting the plants (late April or early May burn), or by removing litter and stimulating thistle growth (late March through mid-April burn) followed by prescriptive cattle grazing that targets thistle regrowth and suppresses other non-native cool season species.
• Reduce litter to allow for minimizing herbicide application rates for common teasel treatment.
• Create a mosaic of burned and unburned patches with 75 to 95 percent of the area burned.  Unburned patches can serve as refuge for small mammals, insects, and other grassland species.

Last Updated on Thursday, 05 July 2012 09:53