Agricultural News
Vici Conservationist Ken Salisbury Calls for More Controlled Burning to Reduce the Risk of Wildfire
Fri, 28 Jun 2019 12:35:45 CDT
In the latest Southern Plains Podcast, host Clay Pope visits with Ken Salisbury, a farmer/rancher and Conservation District Director from Vici, Oklahoma about the impact wildfire has had on his operation and what he sees as ways to reduce risk.
Although familiar with wildfires, Salisbury says the fire events that sparked across western Oklahoma last spring in 2018, were quite unusual. The fires that raged near him, he says, lasted nearly two weeks burning everything in its path including his own mother's house and some of his equipment. Personally, he sustained about 500 acres of damage.
Despite the destruction left in the fire's wake, Salisbury says one positive that came from it was that the cedar trees in its path were decimated. He and Pope discussed the environmental benefits that will have moving forward as the cleared area should now be able to retain more ground water.
Pope adds that proper management of this invasive species not only is environmentally good for the land, it also reduces the risk of wildfire when they are cleared. Doing so, he says, limits any potential fuel for future fires which ultimately helps contain fires in quicker order.
"I think people are going to have to start doing more controlled burning and try to get rid of some more of these trees," Salisbury said. "There would be a lot more water down state in these rivers and creeks for the lakes and for Oklahoma City if they would do more of that burning out in this country."
Listen to Salisbury and Pope talk more about proper land management and how it can reduce the risk of wildfire, by clicking or tapping the LISTEN BAR below.
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