The Burning Truth About Fires and Land Management

Wildfires affect everybody. They affect every member of the community and outside resources used in fighting the fires. From money to personnel, the displacement and recovery period is no short task and is typically very costly. How can ranchers and land owners aide in this process? By prevention. Proper land management is a key factor in reducing the risk, devastation and aftermath of a fire and other natural disasters, but we will just focus on fires for now.

Ranchers know the importance of grazing cattle properly and the positive effects it has on the environment. Getting that out to the masses is a challenge. But, there is new research that is proving grazing as a vital tool in wildfire prevention. However, for years, studies produced show earlier grazing reduces future fire risk while benefiting native plants. Livestock grazing can be used as a tool to lower wildfire risk, as well as reduce the ultimate impact of the fire, by slowing down how fast the flames spread and how hot the fire burns. They do this by grazing down the annual and perennial grasses, promoting new growth and leaving far less dead underbrush that acts as kindling to a fire.

Unfortunately, increasing societal pressures to leave the land alone either through national monument designations or wildlife protection acts ignore the fact that people involved in the livestock and timber industries are critical for maintaining our grasslands and forests.

With California currently under fire, literally, I'd like to point out how the California Cattleman’s Association and the National Cattleman’s Beef Association are advocating for the the environment and stewardship of the land. According to the policy book, both CCA and NCBA, “support policies that encourage the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Land Management, and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to increase burning activities on public lands, thus reducing wildfire potential, increasing public safety, increasing water yield, livestock and wildlife habitat and increasing vegetative diversity and that CCA encourage public agencies to include a plan for fuel load reduction in management plans.”

Many ranchers in the Western U.S. depend on federal and state lands for grazing. Implementing your own grazing plan is at the mercy of the state and federal land offices. Cattleman’s Associations strongly believe in grazing as an important management tool and a compatible use on public lands, and encourages all affected agencies to support coordinated resource planning and participation in the encouragement of livestock grazing as an economically and environmentally sustainable practice. Having a voice is critical and we encourage all ranch operators and land owners to be involved in advocating for proper land management.

Many large ranches and land owners have private timber on their tracts of land. Proper timber management has also been proven in the prevention of fire. Reducing dead trees and other infestations of bugs and diseases results in healthier forest.

The result of over regulating forest industries such as loggers and increased environmental pressures from special interest groups has lead to larger, more devastating fires—fires so hot that they sterilized the soil, making regrowth difficult and altering the landscape. More importantly, fires that increasingly threatened lives and homes as they became hotter and more difficult to bring under control.

Historically, the dense, wooded forest on federal lands in California today were not so dense 100 years ago. They were grasslands with scattered trees (mainly pine with some oak) and branches were much higher, lower branches had been burned off by low-intensity grassfires. California’s Native American population had for years shaped this landscape with fire to encourage the grasslands and boost the game animal population. As California modernized with the Gold Rush, timber was harvested and replanted. Fires were suppressed because they threatened homes as well as burned up a valuable resource. The landscape filled in with trees, but the trees were harvested every 30 to 50 years. In the 1990s, however, that cycle began to be disrupted with increasingly burdensome regulations. The timber harvest cycle slowed, and, in some areas, stopped completely, especially on the almost 60% of California forest land owned by the federal government. 

A look at Cal Fire’s list of top 20 most destructive fires since record began in 1932, 90% (18 out of 20) have occurred since the nineties and the majority of them in the past decade. What does this say about current policies and practices? I would interpret this as, ‘something has to change.’ People’s lives, homes and livelihoods depend on making changes to the current practices.

Land owners, ranch managers and operators may not be able to control what is going on in the state and federal level in terms of land management, but this should be a valuable lesson to them nonetheless. A lesson on proper land management. Eliminate debris, increase soil health and maintain a healthy plant and tree population will greatly reduce your risk of fires. Fires are inevitable and have been happening since the beginning of time, however, we can reduce the devastation by proper land management.