Was doing my fav loop today and got a view of the forest fire that's been raging around Hot Springs for the last week. They say it's under control, but they haven't been able to put it out
Supposed to start raining today and for the next 2 or 3 days, so hopefully that will finish it off. Actually, fire is good we're just afraid of it. The natives here used to burn to whole thing just so they could get around. When the Europeans arrived they said it looked like a park. Now the forest is so thick and buggy and snaky during the summer have to stay out of it. Still, my fav place in the whole world. In the last 7 years I've been from NZ to the north pole and most places in between working and still didn't find anyplace I like better.
I did 12 years of controlled burns in SE Oklahoma next to the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas, the terrain looked much like your picture. We rotated burn 4 areas so that they each got burned every 4th year. After 3 rotations it looked like the park you describe and it was also nearly impossible to make it burn a year early, there simply wasn't enough fuel on the ground to keep it going.
Exactly, I don't know why the FS in NC can't get this. I burn the fields, gardens and other open grassy areas of my property regularly as most locals do in this area. So no snakes, yellow jackets, chiggers!, fleas and ticks...all gone basically. And in a very short time everything is green and happy again. I'd like to burn my wooded acres, but I've got National Forest on 2 sides of me and it's against the law with major fines.
If you have enough land you can enroll it in federal and state wildlife improvement programs and actually get paid to burn, make fire breaks and build ponds. Some of the time we burned we were getting paid by both the State and Feds for the same burn and then we would use the money to build a pond and get paid again. Contact your local NRCS and State and US foresters and see what is available. In the West there is money available to thin your timber to the forestry stand improvement specs and get nearly $1,000.00 per acre plus you own the timber you just thinned out to sell as pallet wood, fire wood or sawmill depending on the quality. You can also spade and sell the young trees to nurseries rather that cut them and treat them as slash.
That concept is completly alien to us uk folk none of our woods or forests are large enough too burn. At least i dont think there are. Pleases it doesnt worry you.
We burn out stumps in KY and I wish more would burn for the exact reasons you mention.... the bugs here will tear you up....
The area in Oklahoma I was burning was about 1200 acres but we would only burn 300-400 acres per year on a 4 year rotation which we did 3 times each, thus the 12 years. After you have made a good fire break the tools of choice are a drip torch and at least 5 people with the biggest best backpack leaf blowers made. Always start the downwind side first and let it back-burn until there is about 150 feet of burned area and the fire is out next to the break, then light the sides and lastly light the head fire and let it burn to the middle. It's really very easy if you pick the right day to do it. 7-12 mph steady winds (not variable). Make sure there are no hollow or dead trees standing that can catch fire and fall across the fire break. It takes about 1/2 of a day to burn 400 acres if the fire break is already constructed. We would cut red cedar trees in November so they would be dry and burn up in March during the burn. The forester would assess how many hours of cedar cutting was needed and they would pay you an hourly wage to cut them. After the burn they would come back and see what we had done and pay us. I have a 15 acre back yard in MO that is a dirt bike practice area. I use the trails as fire breaks and I've burned it 4 times in 5 years, this year was so wet I never got a good burn day so I have a crapload of goats on it now to eat back the brush. A well done fire is worth thousands of hours of manual labor, IMO the public should allow the foresters to properly manage our national forests for optimum health and put the proceeds in a fund to make the campgrounds and trails better. The miles of beetle killed trees and the massive fires would be kept to a minimum.
I hate the dang cedar trees.... When camping I usually go cut them down and burn them.... I like the idea of getting rid of under growth.... its a pain even with my walk behind bush hog
