Superintendent Mike Pflaum announced plans for a prescribed burn in the Heck Table area of Badlands National Park. The window for the prescribed burn is between September 18 and November 1. The window allows for ideal weather conditions to be present for the burn to occur. Several parameters must be met, such as temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and the amount of moisture in the dead vegetation. The total burn area will be between 250 and 3500 acres.
Prescribed burns serve several resource management goals. Objectives of this prescribed burn are many, but include reduction of fuel loads and control non-native species such as cheatgrass, Bromus tectorum. The information gathered from the project will help determine future management options to control this invasive plant within Badlands National Park.
The Northern Great Plains Fire Office is providing support for this burn.
For more information regarding the prescribed burn, please contact Mike Carlbom at 605-433-5279
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
