Agricultural News
Noble Foundation Signs on to Assist Prescribed Burn Association to Control Invasive Species
Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:56:16 CDT
There was a special signing ceremony to further prescribed burning in the state of Oklahoma at this year's Conservation Day Celebration on Monday. Bill Buckner, president and chief executive officer of the Noble Foundation spoke with Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays and said that the foundation has agreed to work with the Oklahoma Prescribed Burn Association to try to get infrastructure in place to take prescribed burning to the next level.
"The mission of the Noble Foundation is to enhance agriculture through proper land stewardship and we see prescribed fire as one of those elements that should be in every farmer and rancher's tool box to preserve our natural landscape."
Buckner said they have identified and taken several steps to get the process started.
"First and foremost was to get structure and make sure that the game plan that we have is something that we can all aspire to not just from an Ardmore-centric area or an Oklahoma State-centric area, but also across the state itself, and how you engage all the different associations and bring some structure to it so we can, more importantly one day, be able to offer insurance for those that are involved in actually applying and doing the burning in prescribed ways. That's important for us."
Hays also spoke with John Weir, president of the Oklahoma Prescribed Burn Association. He is a research associate within the Natural Resources Division of the Oklahoma State University Division of Agriculture. Weir described the association and said it is very important for the state to have this organization.
"A prescribed burn association, if you don't know what it is for sure, is where a group of land owners in an area or community get together, pool their resources, pool their labor and equipment and help each other burn their lands. Because, as people have seen, fire is one of the most economical and beneficial practices that we can do on the landscape to, number one, control Eastern Red Cedar, number two promote our native plants and wildlife species that we have in the state. They've all been adapted around fire over the centuries and we've taken that out of the mix.
"We've seen these downfalls of lack of fire due to the encroachment of Eastern Red Cedars. The wildfires that we've had the past several years, and even in the past decade, and, again, the increasing intensity of those, the allergy problems we have with the people in our state because of cedars and the lack of fire."
He said the efforts are meant to minimize the danger of devastating wildfires.
"One of the most beneficial ways to control fire is through the use of fire. Because we can reduce the intensity of that fire by periodic burning that mimics what historically happened. By removing those volatile fuels like Eastern Red Cedar, we can create safety zones and buffer zones around home areas. We also help protect people who are fighting those fires by reducing the intensity of that fire around us."
Weir said ther are currently 16 prescribed burn associations across the state. He said some of these associations aren't very active or don't have the resources they need to work effectively. He said the goal of the statewide association is to help provide those missing resources.
Weir said fire is vitally important and is often misperceived as simply a tool.
"Fire is an ecosystem process. It is just as important as rainfall. Because the benefits that fire gives to the plant community, to the soils, to the wildlife community, to the livestock that graze the land, are so beneficial- We need to get that back on the ground to get our natural resources back in the balance they need to be in."
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear more from Bill Buckner and John Weir.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
