Tri-Basin Supports Adoption of Prescribed Fire

The western portion of Tri-Basin Natural Resources District (Tri-Basin NRD) contains the eastern of the Loess Canyons landscape. This geography is dominated by loess soils with rolling to steep topography. As a result of the topography there are large contiguous tracts of grasslands in this portion of Tri-Basin NRD. These Loess Canyon grasslands are a stronghold for the Threatened American Burying Beetle and thousands of priority grassland nesting birds like Greater Prairie-Chicken, Western Meadowlark, and Grasshopper Sparrows.

Unfortunately, invasion by Eastern Red Cedar (ERC) is a major threat to this landscape. As ERC becomes established it negatively impacts forage production and the rancher’s bottom-line as well as habitat for priority grassland nesting birds. To leverage additional resources for landowners managing against woody encroachment, Tri-Basin NRD collaborated with Rainwater Basin Joint Venture and Central Platte NRD to submit a Nebraska Environmental Trust and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant. These grants provided funding for mechanical removal of Eastern Red Cedar, grazing deferment, hiring prescribed fire contractors, and supporting a Prescribed Fire Specialist to write burn plans and assist with prescribed fire on private lands.

In the western portion of the Loess Canyons there is an active Prescribed Fire Burn Association that actively burns over 2,500 acres annually, but Tri-Basin NRD landowner adoption of prescribed fire is limited. To improve landowner adoption, Tri-Basin NRD staff engaged neighbors around a property owned and managed by the NRD to determine interest in being part of a demonstration project. After several meetings with NRD staff, RWBJV Prescribed Fire Specialist, and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff the neighbors committed to being part of the project. To support preparation work, the neighboring landowners enrolled in Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts with NRCS. The EQIP contracts provide cost-share for mechanical removal of Eastern Red Cedar and incentives to be part of a multi-owner prescribed fire. The RWBJV Prescribed Fire Specialist and Burn Boss from Pheasants Forever worked together to write the burn plans and assist the landowners with the necessary site preparation. The total burn unit for this prescribed fire is over 1,160 acres. Preparation work completed by the landowners included cutting mature Eastern Red Cedars and stuffing the skeletons in the canyons, removing trees from the fence lines, and mowing/black lining fire breaks to ensure safe implementation. The NRD staff also mowed fire breaks and added gates on their property to ensure access to the adjacent properties.

This prescribed fire was completed on April 6, 2025.  Prescribed fire staff from Tri-Basin and Central Platte NRDs will assist with the prescribed burn, the Pheasants Forever Burn Boss will assist the landowners with securing the burn permit and leading the prescribed fire. Personal invitations and postcards have been sent to landowners with over 80 acres of grasslands in Tri-Basin NRD to attend the event and learn firsthand how prescribed fire can be a safe and valuable grassland management tool. Monitoring will be completed over the coming years to evaluate changes in forage production on the sites to help document the economic benefits of active grassland management through prescribed fire.