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Prescribed burns are frequently used to improve livestock production and wildlife habitat. However, the optimal fire prescriptions to achieve specific management objectives are often poorly understood. In eastern New Mexico, land management agencies like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are using spring burns to manage shinnery oak (Quercus havardii) communities for lesser prairie chicken habitat but lack specific information about fire behavior and associated fire effects of their prescriptions. The objective of this study is to characterize thermal properties of spring burns and their associated fire effects in southeastern New Mexico to improve burn prescriptions for BLM habitat management objectives. We measured fire residence time, maximum temperature, and heat dosage using type K thermocouples on two burns conducted in Spring 2016. The larger of the two units, Rue Patch, had six monitoring locations (four of which burned), whereas the North Well unit had four (three of which burned). The heterogeneous nature of the burn units promoted mosaic burn patterns resulting in highly variable thermal characteristics. Of the locations that burned, the Rue Patch unit had higher mean residence time (218sec), maximum temperature (314 ?C), and heat dosage (19,863 �C s) compared to the North Well unit, which had a mean residence time of (138sec), maximum temperature (230 ?C), and heat dosage (12,092 �C s ). We attribute these differences to higher fuel loads in the Rue Patch unit in the form of shrub biomass. Plant community and wildlife habitat response to these burns, one year post fire will be discussed. This study, in conjunction with on-going lesser prairie chicken research in this area, should provide land managers critical information for lesser prairie chicken management efforts.