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Quality Habitat Management ie; controlled burns

Popcorn

Popcorn

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Cookeville, TN Cadiz, KY and random other places
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Burning native and natural grounds, pine stands and thinned hardwood hollows is one of the best things we can do to produce better habitat and preferred native browse. These burns will be a great source of food for all of our wildlife and a renewed flush of cover. We have burned over 600 acres this week till the winds got up and it became too dangerous.
When we burn we always have enough hands and equipment on hand to keep everything safe and prevent flames from jumping breaks.
 
Someday I would love to have the manpower and support to manage a controlled burn....our Forester has mentioned before the the State Forestry Division can help with burns for a fee....if I remember correctly it was like $25 or $35 per acre which includes bringing in equipment to build firebreaks and manpower to assist with the burn.....the majority of our property is hardwood stand which we have completed TSI projects including hack-n-squirt and as mentioned in the other thread we're now working to thin a couple of cedar stands....but burning is something we haven't tried yet.

I do not want to go off topic but I do have a quick question......I LOVE to hunt (and eat) morel mushrooms.....and I've heard mushroom hunters in California will always focus on natural burn areas in the spring to find morels......so given the timing of your burn.....do you ever find morels or have anyone who hunts them in your burn area? Also.....it seems shed antlers would be easier to find after burning the fields off .... again, don't wanna get off topic....just curious.
 
My name is nwsg76 and I am a certified pyro manaiac....
I burn every year and throught the year. Late winter and September are my favorite and most productive burns depending on objectives. Gathering the tools is not bad expensive and about $500 will get you what you need. If your interested Tennessee has a certified prescribed burn managers program that is great. It provides good training and provides some liability protection by state law. Feel free to contact me for more information.
 
nwsg76 said:
My name is nwsg76 and I am a certified pyro manaiac....
I burn every year and throught the year. Late winter and September are my favorite and most productive burns depending on objectives. Gathering the tools is not bad expensive and about $500 will get you what you need. If your interested Tennessee has a certified prescribed burn managers program that is great. It provides good training and provides some liability protection by state law. Feel free to contact me for more information.
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I can vouch for this program. I completed the course last year. Great program and great folks
 
DoubleRidge said:
Someday I would love to have the manpower and support to manage a controlled burn....our Forester has mentioned before the the State Forestry Division can help with burns for a fee....if I remember correctly it was like $25 or $35 per acre which includes bringing in equipment to build firebreaks and manpower to assist with the burn.....the majority of our property is hardwood stand which we have completed TSI projects including hack-n-squirt and as mentioned in the other thread we're now working to thin a couple of cedar stands....but burning is something we haven't tried yet.

I do not want to go off topic but I do have a quick question......I LOVE to hunt (and eat) morel mushrooms.....and I've heard mushroom hunters in California will always focus on natural burn areas in the spring to find morels......so given the timing of your burn.....do you ever find morels or have anyone who hunts them in your burn area? Also.....it seems shed antlers would be easier to find after burning the fields off .... again, don't wanna get off topic....just curious.
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I don't have a lot of experience with morels. I have heard they are promoted by soil disturbance (logging, etc....). Being that fire stimulates seeds in the soil that have been dormant for many years, there is no question to me you would have morels pop up in burned areas. As far as shed antlers, they typically stick out like sore thumbs.
 
That's awesome Popcorn. I have been depressed this whole week looking at the fire weather outlook seeing that it was very favorable for burns. I've had to work :confused:
 
You are The Man Popcorn! Great pics and great info.

I would love to do some burns in the near future, considering I've just finished cutting 100 acres of hardwoods fairly heavily (down to 12" stump). But to be honest, burning on steep hillsides scares the Hell out of me! However, interspersing sections of burn with natural regrowth would be killer habitat.
 
DoubleRidge said:
I do not want to go off topic but I do have a quick question......I LOVE to hunt (and eat) morel mushrooms.....and I've heard mushroom hunters in California will always focus on natural burn areas in the spring to find morels......so given the timing of your burn.....do you ever find morels or have anyone who hunts them in your burn area? Also.....it seems shed antlers would be easier to find after burning the fields off .... again, don't wanna get off topic....just curious.
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I have not noticed the morels, of course when looking for them the only ones I find, I stepped on or fell over.
We do expose some sheds but not as many as you would think. I find most sheds in food plots or at the edge, this seems to be where active bucks spend a lot of their time this time of year, feeding and recovering.
 
BSK said:
You are The Man Popcorn! Great pics and great info.

I would love to do some burns in the near future, considering I've just finished cutting 100 acres of hardwoods fairly heavily (down to 12" stump). But to be honest, burning on steep hillsides scares the Hell out of me! However, interspersing sections of burn with natural regrowth would be killer habitat.
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Control, control, control.
Wide fire breaks either disked raked or mowed short then raked, access all around planned burn, tools (leaf rakes, dirt shovels, **back pack blower and chain saw**) 25 gallon sprayer in back of UTV is worth a lot. Burning is easy, maintaining control can get tricky.

Wind is everything! Fire will run with the wind if given a chance so it is far safer to back a fire in against the wind,
Humidity is a major factor plan to burn high risk areas late in the day when the wind is down and the humidity is rising. this will slow the fire and provide more control.

Fire will run up hill and crawl down hill, starting points should be considered based on available manpower and point of termination. Also know that wind swirls in the hollows and can reverse thru a saddle (aka squirrelly winds) A NW wind blowing against a west facing slope can turn south below the ridge. A 3 to 8 mph wind can be helpful, higher than that increases danger and risk. I do not burn when winds get above 15. Unexpected gusts up to 20 is why we stopped igniting new ground this past week and manned the fires till 1:30 AM

Many escaped fires are caused by hot embers blowing into a new fuel source from an unseen or neglected source. Never ignite more area than you have the manpower and equipment to handle.
Always call your burn plan in to local dispatch and keep their number handy in case the fire gets out of control.

You WILL encounter smoke and walk in hot coals or even flames at times so consider your personal needs for safety.

Dont forget the drinking water.

Training is a great idea, having an off duty fireman help man the fire line can be priceless!
 

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