Reigniting prescribed burns on private land

Enthusiasm is growing among private landowners in Oregon to bring back the practice of prescribed burns, thanks in part to the work of Prescribed Burn Associations.

The associations are networks of landowners, community groups and forest agencies, working together to make burning more accessible.

Micah Schmidt, fire specialist for Oregon State University Extension, who helped establish the Northeast Oregon Prescribed Burn Association, said the groups help landowners overcome barriers, which can make prescribed burning difficult.

“We’ve got people real excited across the region to either burn on their land or to come help someone else burn. It’s hard for landowners to implement a burn of meaningful size on their own, and so it’s a way to build collective capacity, build community ownership, and put fire back into the hands of the people,” Schmidt outlined.

Schmidt pointed out most people burn their land to reduce wildfire risk. Oregon land is adapted to burn every five to 20 years, helping to control invasive species and promote wildlife habitat. After Europeans colonized the area in the 19th century, Oregon largely banned prescribed burns, which Native Americans had practiced for millennia.

Peter Ferré, a private landowner in Wallowa County and supporter of the Northeast Oregon Prescribed Burn Association, just hosted a second prescribed burn on his property last week aimed at suppressing an invasive grass called medusahead rye. He emphasized working with a team on a burn is essential because there are many factors in planning, including carefully tracking the weather and wind speed.

“You don’t just go out and throw a match on the grass and hope it burns the right direction. There’s so much detail in setting up the burn zone and having a certified burn manager write the plan,” Ferré explained.

Ferré encouraged landowners who are interested in prescribed burns to first do their own research to understand how it could benefit their land. Then, he stressed, people should reach out to their regional wildfire specialist associated with the university to see if there is already a prescribed burn association in place to help.

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