published: Friday, May 8, 2020
Hats off to the Nebraska Rx Burn Community for persevering through our bi-polar March weather, and reactions to the COVID19 scare.
The Loess Canyon Rangeland Alliance (which was officially founded in 2002 and operates approximately in a triangular landscape from North Platte to Curtis, then back North to Brady in Southwest Nebraska) conducted extremely effective ERC reclamation burns on about 17,000 acres, including a unit of 3,775 acres, which is their largest effort to date.
The neighboring Central Platte Rangeland Alliance(founded in 2008, and covering an area that ranges from North of Gothenburg to South of Farnam, East to Elwood, and West to Brady with some overlap with the LCRA) recorded approximately 7,500 acres of equally effective ERC control burns, with their PR of a 3,500 acre unit.
Local private contractor Prescription Pyro added another 6,200 acres. CPRA and Rx Pyro teamed up on their larger burns, creating a win-win partnership for both. This tallies up to nearly 31,000 acres of rangeland and wildlife habitat reclaimed just in the spring of 2020 in a very unique Nebraska landscape. Particular thanks to the numerous Volunteer Fire Department members who participated, providing critical assistance. Private landowners and partners in Knox County in Northeast Nebraska also conducted ERC eradicating burns on around 3,500 acres of grasslands, including a 1,700 acre multi-landowner effort (their largest to date). While I feel sure there were numerous other burns conducted around the state, these are the only efforts that I have personal knowledge of. Super job and many thanks to all of Nebraska’s ranchers, farmers, landowners, and volunteers from partner organizations and VFDs for working to reclaim our grasslands, one of Nebraska’s most precious resources!!! Keep pushin’ the torch!! Doug Whisenhunt Ecological Site Specialist SSR 5 North Platte NE 1202 S Cottonwood 308 520-1317
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