Impacts of fire on soil…. Several studies & data …

[Sligh1]

A lot of folks burn but I’d guess the vast majority do not understand the dynamics…. Intensity of fire can make a big difference. Slow burning cool fires are very different than very hot. The burning of dead organic matter releases N but some nutrients (like Calcium) are not lost. Burning has a lot of +/-‘s & also is dependent on intensity, frequency & why it’s done & what setting. Impacts erosion, soil pores, organic matter composition, etc etc. Again- sometimes beneficial, sometimes not. I’ll leave out my opinions on it and wanted to fire up some nerdy data that is very well worth reading for those who are interested in these types of things ….
The only OPINION I’ll leave here…. A gazillion people burn with no real understanding of the short or long term ramifications or a real understanding of what burning does in a variety of settings & applications.

How Do Wildfires Affect Soil? - Applied Earth Sciences

Wildfires have a significant impact on the properties of the soil. The heat of the fire burns away all of the vegetation and organic matter on the surface of the soil, which makes some nutrients more readily available to the soil while turning others into gases that are lost (chiefly nitrogen)...

www.aessoil.com

Decades of increased burning depletes soil carbon

Long-term effects of repeated fires on soils found to have significant impacts on carbon storage not previously considered in global greenhouse gas estimates.

news.stanford.edu

Fire Effect on Soil

THE EFFECT OF FIRE ON SOIL PROPERTIES

THE EFFECT OF FIRE ON SOIL PROPERTIES

forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu

How Does Wildfire Impact Soil Health? | Fire Safe Sonoma

As part of the North Coast Soil Hub's Fall/Winter 2020 newsletter, our CivicSpark Fellow Cailin Notch wrote a piece on wildfire's effect on soil health. Read the story here: California wildfires set new records this year, with a total of 1,492,128 acres burned as of Nov 1, 2020. The LNU...

www.firesafesonoma.org

Fire is GOOD for Soil, Right? Well, Not Always

by Clain Jones, Montana State University Soil Fertility ExtensionHundreds of thousands of acres of forest, rangeland and cropland have sadly gone up in smoke th

northernag.net

 

[Jerry Gille]

I have a good friend that is a botanist for the state of Illinois. He always advocates the burning of prairies and timbers. I have a forester that does my forest management plans who says to not burn my timber and in fact puts that in the plans he writes. Illinois has been burning state park timbers around me for a few years now. The honeysuckle will top kill and come right back year after year. I know you are not necessarily thinking of timber burns here but the heck if I know whether to burn or not! Good reading there and thanks for posting it.

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

Timing is a critical consideration in this discussion. I am mostly pro fire given certain parameters.

One Hypothetical example with two different outcomes:

Say you have a heavy reed canary grass or Johnsongrass area that you want to transform to switchgrass. There is an untold number of years of trash/thatch that would make getting good seed to soil contact a real struggle.

Scenario 1: You burn this area in Feb/march in 8-10 MPH wind. The ground is still frozen. The fire moves at a reasonable pace thru the burn. There is near zero impact on the soil as the frost prevents the top layer of thatch from igniting.

scenario 2: You burn this same area when its 90 degrees out in August. There is very little wind. The fire is HOT HOT because of the fuel load and moves very slowly because of lack of wind. I think you are def burning up organics and causing some issues as outline above.


I like to burn new plots ONE time upon establishment. Certainly not every year. One time deal. Not a big deal IMO. It greatly improves soil to seed contact to get the ball rolling on your plot rotations.

Timber fires are a whole different discussion. You can help oak stands and regeneration GREATLY with periodic fire.

 

[hesseu]

There's a lot of variables to the links you posted...

1) Location
2) Soil type
3) Frequency of burn
4) Historical frequency of burn
5) Native species present
6) Invasive species present
7) Crop species present
8) Goal in mind
9) Time of burn
10) Historical land type

And, I'm sure there is many more. I'm a huge proponent of Rx fire...but, that goes along with the goals in mind that I have of native habitat restoration.

 

[saddlehunter]

A good CONTROLLED burn is one of the best management tools for the wildlife we love to hunt. If it is done properly, there are more benefits for us and wildlife than negatives.