SLOPE COUNTY - A prescribed burn is in the works for sometime in the next couple weeks by the United States Department of Agriculture Medora Ranger District for southwest-northwest Slope County section 31, 136-102, near the Deep Creek area.
The goal is to burn ponderosa pines which are encroaching on pasture land in the area. The project also is to make a natural fuel break to help with any future fires, USDA Forest Service District Ranger Ron Jablonski said.
"The weather we are having now is just a bump in the road, but the extended forecast by next week looks good," he added. "Moisture is good for grass production and with this burn, it is a good precursor to when we decide to do it."
The district has been trying to burn pines for the last four years and did a lot of field work to prepare, he added.
Jablonski is aware of the fire started in this area a few years ago where an air tanker was brought in to help put it out and wants to help prevent that from happening again.
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"There's more than 300 acres or more to burn down there, but we want to do a 70-acre burn to start with and from there only a bite at a time," Jablonski said. "The hope is to get a rotation to burn every four years to stop the pine encroachment on the land. We want to prevent a stand replacement fire which would get into the whole stand of ponderosa pine."
The same piece could be burned each year for the next four years by burning a small chunk each time, he added.
The crew would create a natural fuel break in the area to help things.
"What normally carries a big fire is the fuels on the ground, but if we can clean that up we can save problems with a potential big fire down in that country," Jablonski said. "The best we can do is make it defensible with as many natural breaks as we can create. This wasn't always done in past and there is a continual fuel bed of the decadent grasses and weeds there."
Jablonski understands the importance of trees in the state for wildlife and as shelter belts, as does Director of Surface Management Mike Brand with the North Dakota State Land Department who is also a grassland ecologist.
"Cedars, creeping junipers and other trees have all expanded tremendously," Brand said. "This is not natural and it would be healthy not to have as many. It is unnatural to have that many because they are taking over a lot of the environment out there."
There is a need for a certain amount when it comes to winter cover and the trees are beautiful, but anything in excess can be bad, he added.
"There haven't been as many wild fires which has let them grow out," Brand said.
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Jablonski compares the work of a prescribed burn as managing a garden on a grandiose scale.
"There are certain things we want there and don't want there," Jablonski said.
The district has worked with many other agencies on this project.
"We've coordinated with the Little Missouri Grazing Association, the North Dakota Forest Service and shared information with the Natural Resource Conservation Service and the North Dakota Game and Fish Department," Jablonski said. "Also the National Park Service, United States Fish and Wildlife Service and state forest service will provide help with the burn. Plus, we've already talked with county commissioners, sheriff, fire people and the neighbors in the area."
The ranger district also will call those individuals right before they come out or as close to the time of the burn as possible.
During the past two summers, USDA Forest Service employees worked on foot in the Slope County unit and other units which the agency plans to burn in the next few years.
"They cleared ladder fuel which is where a tree is blown over and onto another tree creating a fuel ladder so the fire can go from the ground to the crown of a tree or it can be limbs hanging on the ground," Jablonski said. "We cleared debris out to keep the fire out of the crown of the trees. We do not desire taking big trees just the smaller ones. One guy was down there a couple weeks ago mowing about 60-80 feet back from the perimeter."
Jablonski plans to burn slowly and carefully and if possible, back the fire into the wind and burn the area in strips so it is more controllable. He said this is one way to do it and it works well on the prairie.
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"Everything has to be right, (such as) fuel moistures and the wind in our parameters," Jablonski said. "Our main concern is public safety. People were nervous when we first talked about doing this and we want to create trust in our ability to burn safely and do the best job."
