Landowners urged to plan ahead with prescribed burns

It can be very easy, especially with South Dakotas everblowing winds, for a controlled burn to quickly grow out of control.
It is why the local USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), alongside Pheasants Forever (PF) and SDSU Extension, hosted a burn school this past week the first training of its kind in several years. The classroom-only session focused on how to create a prescribed burn plan, why a plan is needed, and what preparation steps landowners should take before ever striking a match.
Local landowner Jim Julson, who has had Conservation Reserve Program ground since the 1980s and attended his first burn training in 2013, said the session was valuable even without live fire. It was an informational meeting to let people know that you cant just go out and light up a field and hope things work out, Julson said.
The training included instruction on wildland fire suppression, use of a fire simulation table to model how wind, topography, and fuel impact fire behavior, and an overview of safety requirements such as firebreaks and weather conditions. Those that attended discussed liability, smoke management, and how a plan must be written often a year in advance.
Many in attendance were conservation staff, but a handful of producers, including a father and son interested in using fire to manage red cedar encroachment, took part. Julson said the key takeaway was that more resources are becoming available. I now know specifically exactly who I can contact for additional help if I need it, those systems werent there a year ago, he said.
NRCS staff emphasized that fire departments should be partners in planning rather than the emergency call when burns escape control. More local departments are beginning to work alongside landowners, and prescribed burn associations are forming to provide training and shared equipment.
Live fire training considered crucial by many was not part of the class, but officials plan for it to be offered to classroom attendees this fall.
For more information, contact the Flandreau NRCS office at (605) 997-2949, ext. 3.