Will Kansas burn this spring? (Wichita, Riley: air quality, budget, lessons)

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by saltine

Again, I just don’t remember it getting so hazy and smoky up until just a few years ago

Range and grassland fires have burned hundreds of thousands of acres so far this Spring in the southern Plains region of Oklahoma. You might be receiving some impacts due to a strong prevailing southerly or southwesterly wind direction.

[DavePa]

I guess farmers not far from me in the Northeast spreading manure in spring to freshen the air .... over the nose ..... is not so bad. The air remains clear and your nose adjust to scents better then eyes to haze.

Seems to me mass burnings is a bit ridicules. But that's me. What happened to plowing it in and returning nutrients and crop rotation? Guess you just burn and fertilize? Just seems like a surprising way to get ready for a new planting season that continues?

[Mattks]

Originally Posted by DavePa

I guess farmers not far from me in the Northeast spreading manure in spring to freshen the air .... over the nose ..... is not so bad. The air remains clear and your nose adjust to scents better then eyes to haze.

Seems to me mass burnings is a bit ridicules. But that's me. What happened to plowing it in and returning nutrients and crop rotation? Guess you just burn and fertilize? Just seems like a surprising way to get ready for a new planting season that continues?

It’s ranch lands. Not much crops. Crop lands dont typically burn because of the need for nutrients.

[GraniteStater]

Bring back more bison instead of cattle for ranch lands leading to less burning cycles- much more sustainable in the long-term, and plenty of demand exists for it.

[Mattks]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Bring back more bison instead of cattle for ranch lands leading to less burning cycles- much more sustainable in the long-term, and plenty of demand exists for it.

I don’t about the numbers, but it seems like there are more bison now. There are 2 ranches doing bison near me, but they have both done bison for a long time...

That said, I do see more restaurants serving bison burgers, and that’s really the only basis for my statement.

[Mattks]

Watched some burns last night. There is a large hill near my home where one can see for miles and I enjoy parking the car at the top and watching the fires. It’s a beautiful and awesome sight watching the massive fires burn. It’s raining this morning so hopefully that will quell some of the smoke.

[Mathguy]

Prairie fires have been going on since man stepped foot on this continent.

[Mattks]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Prairie fires have been going on since man stepped foot on this continent.

Since before man came. Wildfires occur naturally all the time via lightning. Natives didn’t burn the prairies, they allowed nature to do so. But they also didn’t have permanent settlements since they were nomadic. When settlers came they realised immediately the importance of controlled burns otherwise their settlements would burn up. The same is still true today, we are not nomadic and can’t allow natural burns.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Mattks

Since before man came. Wildfires occur naturally all the time via lightning. Natives didn’t burn the prairies, they allowed nature to do so. But they also didn’t have permanent settlements since they were nomadic. When settlers came they realised immediately the importance of controlled burns otherwise their settlements would burn up. The same is still true today, we are not nomadic and can’t allow natural burns.

Good post, very true.

Complaining about prairie fires in KS is like complaining about the cold winters in MN or that alligators live in Louisiana.

Just sorta comes with the territory.

[Mattks]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Good post, very true.

Complaining about prairie fires in KS is like complaining about the cold winters in MN or that alligators live in Louisiana.

Just sorta comes with the territory.

Yeah, I complain about the cold winters all the time and my wife wants to move to Florida, and we’re not even old yet.

While I can see the importance of controlled burns, I’m all for monitoring, researching, and regulating the burns as well. We should try to find the most efficient way to burn that limits the effect on people living in the region. When we knew there was going to be a good rain storm earlier this week, someone should have contacted ranchers and said here is a great 2-3 day window for performing the burns (before the rain). That could be the National Weather Service or the Department of Agriculture. There’s no reason to create a new regulatory department, I’d trust either of those departments to do a decent job. I went out to watch the burns the day before the rain and I was surprised so few were burning, but I did see a couple big fires raging.