Prescribed burn maintains native ecosystems Published March 18, 2010 By Brion Ockenfels Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- A prescribed burn took place this week in open fields and brush areas located in the south west quadrant of Tinker Air Force Base. Tinker's 72nd Air Base Wing Civil Engineer Directorate has held in-depth discussions with the experts from the Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service here in Oklahoma, local land management representatives and the Tinker AFB Fire Department. These discussions resulted in a decision to maintain an area in its pre-settlement condition through a prescribed burn. This burn took place under very restrictive guidelines set forth by the above agencies and Tinker's Prescribed Burn Management Plan. The burn involved approximately 16 acres of grasslands, south of the base housing area and other land management areas in and along Tinker's Urban Greenway Trail system located in the southwest corner of base. Tinker takes pride in its Natural Resources Management Program that still maintains a small portion of remnant prairie in its original condition. In the last few years, a steady invasion of plant species and trees into this prairie area has created a downward trend in the prairie and native grass ecosystems. Properly conducted prescribed burns have multiple benefits, said John Krupovage, Tinker's Natural Resources manager and forester. Prescribed fires help restore and maintain vital habitat for wildlife, including Texas horned lizard, an Oklahoma state sensitive species. Besides the many wildlife species that require fire-dependent habitat, many native grasses and plants thrive only in regularly burned areas. The use of prescribed fire as a land management tool has deep and ancient roots in Oklahoma's past. Mr. Krupovage said while it may seem paradoxical, prescribed burns also enhances public safety. In effect, prescribed fires reduce or even eliminate fuel loads, thereby making wildfire in that area impossible or unlikely for some time afterwards. According to forestry services experts, wildfires are less destructive on areas that have been burned. Wildfires can often lose intensity or go out when they reach areas that have been previously burned. Better to deal with a predictable situation under the restrictive conditions of a prescribed burn plan that reduces fuels, than deal with a wildfire on that same land, a wildfire that may burn under dangerous weather conditions during a drought and high winds like those experienced just last year in Midwest City, said Mr. Krupovage.