Farm/Ranch
Prescribed burn tour set for April 30
By Steve Byrns, Texas A&M
Apr 30, 2010

ROBY – A prescribed burning field day will be held from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. April 30 at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch located 11 miles west of Roby on U.S. Hwy. 180.

Two Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be available for those with a private applicators license.

Dr. Dale Rollins, Texas AgriLife Extension Service wildlife specialist at San Angelo, said the field day will showcase a number of burns conducted at the research ranch over the past year and should be of interest to range and wildlife managers as well as ranchers.

Rollins, who also serves as the ranch director, refers to the event as a “Fire Appreciation Day.”

“I use the term ‘appreciation’ to market several of my programs, especially those which can be controversial,” Rollins said. “Appreciation has several contexts, including ‘to value or admire highly,’ ‘to judge with heightened awareness,’ and ‘to be cautiously or sensitively aware of.’ All of these apply to the use of fire as a tool for range and wildlife management.”

Rollins said prescribed burning has received increased scrutiny lately, especially given the damage caused by large wildfires in the Texas Panhandle and elsewhere in recent years. He is quick to point out that those wildfires were not caused by prescribed burning.

“Prescribed burning is a lot more than just throwing a match,” he said. “With proper planning and training, burning can be safe and effective. We’ll highlight the plans and procedures we use here.”

The quail research ranch was established in 2007 with the mission to “preserve Texas’ wild quail hunting heritage for this and future generations.” Rollins uses fire as his “adjustable wrench” to reach that goal; something he said more land managers should consider.

He said a properly executed prescribed burn can accomplish multiple objectives simultaneously for less than $7 per acre.

“One of our objectives is to determine the plant responses to seasonal fires so we can eventually tweak our burn timing to achieve the most desirable impact for quail,” he said. “Most of the prescribed burning in Texas has been done in late winter, but we’ve seen some pretty incredible forb responses to fires conducted last August.”

Rollins said the program’s formal talks will be kept to a minimum to promote comments and insights from attendees. Fire weather forecasters will be on hand to discuss their forecasting tools, since an accurate, real-time weather forecast is critical when conducting a burn.

Cost of the tour is $10 for those who preregister by April 23, or $20 at the door. Registration includes lunch and refreshments. Participants are encouraged to preregister to assist with meal planning.

In the event of inclement weather, the program will be moved to the Roby Community Center.

The tour is sponsored by the research ranch, Texas AgriLife Research, and AgriLife Extension’s Quail Decline Initiative. For more information or to pre-register, contact Rollins at 325-653-4576 or e-mail: d-rollins@tamu.edu .