Rangeland Ecology & Management

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IMPACTS ON PRAIRIE-CHICKEN HABITAT FROM MANAGEMENT OF RANGELAND FUELS
Author
Klempel, Lauren N.
Sedivec, Kevin K.
Norland, Jack
Geaumont, Ben A.
Ford, Dustin
Elmore, Dwayne
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2015
Body

Long-term changes to historic fire regimes (from frequent fires to fire suppression) have resulted in the encroachment of woody plants into prairies of the Great Plains. An additional consequence of fire suppression is the occurrence of frequent severe wildfires associated with high levels of fuel buildup. In efforts to return to more historic fire regimes, prescribed fire has recently become a favored management practice among some stakeholders. When fire is applied in a patchwork pattern (patch-burning) across the landscape and paired with grazing by cattle, the result is heterogeneity of vegetation structure and composition, which has implications to fuels. Our study compares the effects of interacting fire and grazing to fire alone (no grazing) on fuel properties and prairie-chicken habitat. Four vegetation types are represented by four sites across Texas and Oklahoma: tallgrass prairie, shinnery oak, sand sagebrush, and gulf coastal prairie. Three of the sites incorporate patch-burning and grazing into their current management strategy, while the fourth uses prescribed fire alone (no grazing). Un-grazed areas are available at each site for comparison to areas with a combination of burning and grazing. By sampling areas with different times since fire, we can assess how the fire-grazing interaction affects fuel characteristics and parameters of prairie-chicken habitat. Preliminary data suggests that patch-burn grazing allows for conservation of prairie chickens, while at the same time maintaining fuels at lower levels for an extended period of time when compared to burning alone.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Sacramento, CA