Fire, Flint Hills and the EPA

Tonight as we came home the Flint Hills were ablaze with fire. Nothing to worry about this is a springtime ritual that has been going on since God created the prairie. It used to be started by lightening but now fire is one of the most important tools of a Flint Hills rancher. However, that could be in jeopardy due to a short-sighted approach by our friends at the EPA.

For those of you who regularly read this blog, you know I don't often make political statements, well until tonight. The Obama administration has many questionable appointments, judgment calls and alliances when it comes to agriculture. Ties that very well could hurt our ability to produce the food and fiber the world needs. Their short-sighted approach to pasture burning is one.

As I stated earlier, fire is necessary to maintain the tall grass prairie of the Flint Hills. Without fire, our fragile eco-system will transform into shrubs and eventually a forest. The use of fire keeps the trees and brush confined to areas along creeks. Without fire, we would be forced to use expensive chemical weed and brush control to maintain our native prairie grass. This does not even mention the economic benefit to burning pasture. It has been proven that ranchers gain $35 to $4o per animal on burned versus unburned pasture. In these days of razor thin profit margins, that is huge when it comes to being able to stay on the ranch. However, economic benefits are not what I am focusing on tonight. It is the maintenance and preservation of our last tall grass prairie.

Because of three instances, three days, in the last 6 years, of air quality in Kansas City and Wichita reaching what EPA calls an unacceptable level, our ability to burn the native tall grass prairie may be restricted. The EPA is focusing on this very rare occurrence, which may improve air quality in the short run on a very few days and ultimately cause greater long term danger.

The majority of the Flint Hills are burned in the middle part of April. This was not decided by random chance but has been proven by research conducted by our land grant universities to provide the greatest benefit to the prairie. The fire does many things. It removes the dead litter allowing the soil to warm faster and the grass to grow faster. The grass that is generated is more palatable to the cattle. Think of it this way. Do you prefer asparagus that is fresh andtender or the shoots that have been on the store shelves and are woody and stringy. Cattle are no different. In addition, woody, invasive plants cannot tolerate fire and are more easily controlled through the use of prescribed burning. Finally, the removal of the fuel load lessens the chance of catastrophic wild fires. Ask the people in California or Montana if that is important.

As you can see, fire is absolutely necessary for the survival of our last vestige of tall grass prairie. How do I know, well my master's degree is in agronomy with an emphasis in range management, I grew up in the Flint Hills and I am passionate about making sure this fragile prairie and my equally fragile ranch are here for my grandkids. So you need to decide who do you trust, a bureaucrat who has a hidden agenda, or the rancher, who has roots several generations deep and a love of the prairie. If you are on my side, please contact your congressional delegation and tell them you support ranchers and their ability to use fire in the Flint Hills.

Uncommon Common Sense

I propose that on days of poor air quality in the Kansas City metro area that the driving of cars be banned. The EPA wants to regulate when we can burn because of air quality issues in Kansas City. Let me state that it is my belief that while we may push those air quality numbers to a higher level, pasture burning is not the cause for alarm. The air quality is pushed to the brink because of all the cars being driven in the Kansas City area.

You can't do that, it would hurt your business. Well, I suppose it would and those are the same reasons that limiting burning do not work for those of us in the Flint Hills. Research has proven that fire is necessary to maintain the integrity of the tallgrass prairie. Kansas State University research has also proven that cattle eat a more nutritious diet on pastures that have been burned in the spring. Therefore, they gain more weight, they are worth more money when the rancher sells them and the rancher makes more money (or loses less).

The EPA would have us burn at different times of the year. Again, research has proven that earlier burning results in more water running off of the native range increasing soil erosion and allowing less water to infiltrate the ground and causing a lack of soil moisture. They have all of this information and yet they chose to ignore it.

What am I asking for. Well, I suppose I am asking for something novel, something very uncommon in government regulatory agencies with political appointees, common sense. All I am asking for is for the EPA to realize that the burning of the Flint Hills tallgrass prairie is necessary and only results in a very short, very temporary blip in air quality and to ignore it. In a matter of hours or days it will go away. In the meantime, we will maintain the last tallgrass prairie in the world. Remember, as ranchers we have spent our whole lives taking care of the prairie and we know what is best. Please contact your congressional representative and the EPA and ask them to use some uncommon, common sense.

Fire and the EPA

I think the Flint Hills are the best place to live and raise cattle in the whole world. The Flint Hills are the last vestige of tallgrass prairie in the world. It is a very unique ecosystem and a very fragile one at that.

As a rancher in the Flint Hills it is one of my duties to preserve it and pass it on to other generations. Tallgrass prairie is a very unique ecosystem in that it is not a stable state. What do I mean by not a stable state? Without proper management small shrubs will start to encroach and eventually the prairie will become a woodland.

There are only three ways to stop this encroachment. One is mechanical, or cutting the shrubs and treating the stumps. This is virtually impossible and requires a lot of chemical brush control. The second method is chemical. This option is both expensive and not one I prefer because of the chemical. I would guess I am like most ranchers in that I prefer a natural chemical free solution.

That brings me to my third option, prescribed burning. Prescribed burning is more than just throwing out a match. We time the fire to control a certain invasive species of brush or weed. It also improves the quality of the grass for our cattle, making it more nutritious. Fire, at the right time of the year, is vital for the preservation of the Flint Hills.

So what is the problem. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has gotten involved because our prescribed burning, at times, pushes Kansas City's air quality to an unacceptable level. Don't get me wrong, I am very aware and sympathetic to those with health problems that air quality is very important to. However, maintaining our option to burn is absolutely necessary for the Flint Hills.

The EPA wants ranchers to burn at different times of the year, but that is not a good option. Too early in the year causes run-off and this increases erosion. Try to burn too late in the year and it is hard to get the pasture to burn. In short, we burn during April because time and university research have proved it is the best time to burn native range.

What is the solution? I am not sure, but I do know that air quality is very important to all of us and the ability to burn native range is absolutely critical to maintain native tallgrass prairie. So no matter what we all need to work together to find a solution that is beneficial to both parties and I am pretty sure that doesn't mean an edict from a government agency.