RANGE MANAGERS MUST PLAN BURNS
CRP grasses build excessive litter making travel difficult for young wildlife

PRATT - Kansans who own or manage CRP grasslands and want to maximize that land's value for wildlife have an important decision to make in late winter or early spring: Is a controlled burning in order this year? Periodic burning is a necessary component of CRP management. Without it, grassland's value to small game is diminished.

"The native grasses that comprise our CRP plantings have a tendency to build up excessive ground litter over time," says Randy Rodgers, upland bird research biologist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP). "When too much litter is present on the ground, the cover provided by these grasses becomes almost unusable for all but our largest species of wildlife. Young wildlife, such as pheasant and quail chicks, find these dense mats of grass litter virtually impassable. Chicks hatched in dense, unmanaged CRP grasslands find it impossible to follow the hen from the nest. They quickly become lost or exhausted and soon die."

The recommended solution to this problem is fire. An occasional controlled burn can open up a grass stand, creating abundant pathways for wildlife. The grasses also become healthier.

Fearing fire, some managers hesitate to burn. CRP guidelines remove much of the danger. Strip disking is a provision that will allow a cooperator to disc strategically-located strips, allowing a much safer and more manageable burn. Those managers who don't have heavy farm equipment will probably have to mow the strips that will be fire barriers before disking them. Mowing, followed by disking, greatly reduces the amount of combustible material at the site of the fire break.

Managers should contact their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) for help and to amend contracts to allow strip disking. To be most productive for wildlife, this tillage should be performed in late February or early March, and the burn should be performed during the last week of March or the first week of April. Rural fire departments must also be notified of the planned burn day. A few Kansas counties require more advanced notice and a burning permit.

By setting a backfire inside the disked firebreak on the downwind side of the field, a wide blackened area is created. Once that is done, additional fire can be set inside the firebreak around the perimeter of the field, eventually reaching the upwind side where a head fire can be set to complete the burn.

To create greater diversity, a fireguard can be disked around half the field, that half burned, and the other half left unburned. The second half can be burned the next year. In this way some unburned and some recently burned habitat is always present, offering both nesting and brood-rearing needs in the same field.

Cooperators who wish to go the extra mile should consider interseeding forbs into the burned acres. Forbs such as grazer alfalfa, Maximilian sunflower, bundle flower, partridge pea (in sandy soils), purple prairie clover, and purple coneflower serve as food for insects. For information on forb seeding and seed sources, contact your district Wildlife and Parks biologist.

For more information on burning, contact any local FSA office.