Hello, I live in the high deserts of Northwest New Mexico at 7400 ft. Most of our 60 acres is perennial gramma grass including a meadow ecosystem of wild Onion and bluestem grass. We also have intact cryptobiotic soil in most of that acreage. I am trying to figure out the best way to manage this I’m assuming timing is important and low intensity burn.
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Hi Plantastic- I am certainly not the expert in this field, but… given that you mention cryptobiotic soil presence, I thought you’d be interested in taking a look at the work being done at the Dirtlab at Northern Arizona University featuring the use of biotic sods for both post-fire restoration and as fire breaks. https://dirtlab.weebly.com/. Also- have you seen this? Considerations for Prescribed Burning | New Mexico State University - BE BOLD. Shape the Future.
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Welcome Plantastic, and thank you for posting your question here. I am not the best expert to inform burn practices in these types of grasslands, but I do have several colleagues who study wildfire at UNM. I am going to send along your question to them to see if we can find some advice for you. Please stay tuned. ~ Alexandra
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Thank you I’m definitely interested I will check this out!
Thank you! They would be the ones that would know.
Hi Plantastic,
I got a couple of responses from my colleagues at University of New Mexico. I will directly copy Dr. Esteban Muldavin’s response - my colleague Chris Lippitt recommended him as an excellent reference. Let me know if you would like to follow up any more.
Best regards
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Alexandra,
What the landowner proposes is reasonable but without a bit more on the landscape context it is hard to say what prescription would work best. But here are a few suggestions. The use of fire should be measured with a distinct goal in mind such tamping down juniper or sagebrush increases and maintaining a grassland. In semi-arid systems, fire in a bad rain/snow year can be detrimental, so it becomes a matter of timing, seasonally and over the years. Some have suggested a light fall burn to avoid direct negative impacts of a drought following a spring burn. A return interval of every 10 years would be reasonable or perhaps a bit less because a blue grama system is relatively fire-tolerant. Too much fire and there is a distinct risk of a cheat grass (an annual non-native) increases which would change the fire regime for the worst. If grazing is involved, it’s a harder to predict fire outcomes and would definitely impact the crusts.
Hope this will helps and if there other questions, let me know.
Este
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Yes this is helpful I was considering doing the fall burn assuming that it was going to be less impactful so good to know. Creating habitat for cheatgrass is definitely another concern. We will not be grazing there’s not enough grass to graze it’s very Sparse.
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The biocrust webinar I mentioned in the thread above has just been posted online: https://youtu.be/dpMfYZT5z4c?si=oMwCxjy4y6ntRXy9
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Excellent. I am glad it helped. Best wishes with the fall burn.
Excellent! I’m going to share that with the crew here tonight. Thank you.
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