Prescribed fire costs on Juniper-Infested Rangeland

Abstract

What are the true costs of prescribed fire on juniper infested rangelands? Redberry juniper is a basal sprouting, multistemmed evergreen tree growing on rocky slopes with shallow soils. Although several options are available for managing redberry juniper, prescribed fire is considered the least expensive. Many professionals recommend the application of prescribed fire without knowledge of the actual total costs. Individuals considering contract burning for producers have no guidelines for estimating costs. Factors such as total labor hours, miles driven, torch fuel, and food costs influence the actual cost of burning, but are often overlooked or difficult to estimate without experience. Texas Tech University has 30 years of experience conducting burns for producers in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. This experience is applied to 3 examples which illustrate the total costs for applying prescribed fire. The pastures used were infested by redberry juniper and burned in the spring 1998. These pastures represented a spectrum of pastures capable of being ignited from the ground with drip torches.