Prescribed Burning in Oklahoma

Many people don’t understand the role of fire in the ecosystem. Fire has been and still is an essential part of maintaining healthy native grassland, shrubland, and forest ecosystems and has positive impacts. In fact, fire applied in a prescribed manner is a valuable management tool used by many Oklahoma farmers and ranchers to restore and maintain healthy plant communities. Oklahoma’s native ecosystems are fire dependent and without fire, these plant communities become dysfunctional and unproductive.

Prescribed fire is the use of fire applied under specific conditions, following appropriate planning, which allows the fire to be confined to a specific area in order to accomplish a planned land management objective. Prescribed fire is used to improve the health, appearance, recreational value, and productivity of the land. By using prescribed fire, landowners can restore and maintain forests, shrublands, and grasslands as diverse, healthy ecosystems and reduce wildland fuels loads.

Proper planning for prescribed burns includes understanding fire behavior, understanding and monitoring weather conditions and the development of a prescribed burn plan which contains a prescription based on desired results.

Fire has played a key role in the development of Oklahoma’s landscape and ecology and plant communities respond favorably to fire. Most of our native trees, shrubs, forbs and grasses have mechanisms of coping with fire. Some will grow new leaves; some will re-sprout from their roots, while others have fire resistant seeds that will sprout following a fire. Plants are most susceptible to fire if they are actively growing. For warm season plants this would be during the summer months and for cool season plants, the winter months. Bunchgrasses like little bluestem accumulate dead material above the root crown and the center of the plant dies over time. After a fire, it sometimes appears that the plant was killed when in fact the center of the plant was already dead. This can be observed by examining burned and unburned plants in the same area. In contrast, rhizomatous grasses, such as big bluestem, have growing points below the soil surface and do not accumulate fuel next to the root crown. Woody plants are adapted to fire by location of buds or protective bark. Most woody plants resprout if top growth or apical buds are killed. Once apical dominance is lost, dormant basal buds below the soil surface begin growth. Some woody plants such as eastern redcedar lack basal buds and do not resprout. Many woody plants have thick bark and are adapted to intense fire. Eastern cottonwood, post oak, and shortleaf pine are examples of fire tolerant woody plants.

For further assistance in developing a prescribed burn plan, contact your local NRCS or Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service Office. Offices are located in every county in Oklahoma and are listed in phonebooks under federal and state government.

Oklahoma also has several Prescribed Burn Associations throughout the state. These associations work together to pool resources and conduct prescribed burns on member’s property. For locations and contact information, click here.