Halsey - Fire Managers on the Bessey Ranger District of the Nebraska National Forest plan to conduct a series of prescribed broadcasts burns beginning the week of April 5th through May 8, 2021, as weather conditions allow. The broadcast burns are planned on up to 10,000 acres of native grasslands on the Bessey Ranger District and on up to 800 acres of native grasslands on the Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest.
The prescribed burns are intended to reduce the encroachment of Eastern red cedar trees into the native prairie. Staff on the District have already cut and piled about 3,000 acres of large Eastern red cedar trees off the grasslands on the Bessey Ranger District this year. Experience from past years shows that broadcast burning kills about 90 percent of the young Eastern red cedar trees, three feet tall or less and up to half of the larger ones. Because we can cover large acreages, burning is the most economical method of preventing cedar encroachment. Low-intensity fire is a natural disturbance process that can rejuvenate the grasslands and promote forbs that support pollinators.
Prescribed fires are managed with firefighter and public safety as the first priority.
Smoke from the prescribed burns on the Bessey Ranger District may be visible from Thedford, Dunning, Stapleton, Purdum, Highway 2, Highway 83, and other areas around the Middle Loup and Dismal Rivers. Smoke from the prescribed
Smoke from the prescribed burns at McKelvie may be visible from, Valentine, Prairie Club, Nenzel, Kilgore, Highway 20, Highway 97, Highway 16F and other areas around Merrit Reservoir.
Lingering smoke may be present for up to one week after ignitions are complete.
We post notification of operations on our Facebook page on the day of the prescribed burn (https://www.facebook.com/NebraskaForestsGrasslands/).
If you would like to be notified personally on the day the broadcast burns take place, please call the front desk at (308) 533-2257 or email angel. maldonado@usda.gov.
For technical questions about the prescribed burns, please contact Tedd Teahon at 308-880-0540 or 308-533-8108.