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Prescribed Fire

Verity Callahan — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 16:42:40 +0000

Home / Private Lands Habitat Division

Prescribed Fire

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Private Lands Habitat Division

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Landowners

Sept. 26 | 11 a.m.-5 p.m. | Benton Event Center

You’re invited to enjoy a fun-filled day with AGFC and our partners! Celebrate landowner successes, participate in several breakout sessions to explore ways to improve your land for wildlife and check out new and innovative equipment to help you manage your property. The keynote presentation and catfish fry are included in admission.

Prescribed fire is controlled burn applied in a knowledgeable manner on a specific land area under selected weather conditions to accomplish predetermined, well-defined land management objectives. It is one of the most beneficial habitat improvement tools you can use on your private lands for wildlife to provide year-round food and cover. These benefits are generally best achieved with an active management plan and applying fire every 3-5 years.

View the Guidebook For Prescribed Burning in the Southern Region for more detailed information.

Prescribed Fire Burning Benefits

The goal of prescribed fire is not to reduce to ashes all that grows on the landscape– it’s a tool that’s carefully tuned to make healthy adjustments so a particular plant or animal species can thrive. Among other outcomes, prescribed fire can:

Provide wildlife habitat in the form of food and cover;
Limit invasive species;
Promote wildflower and plant diversity;
Maintain fire-dependent plant and animal communities;
Maintain healthy ecosystems.

Prescribed fires can also:

Reduce leaves, wood, and other debris that can fuel wildfires;
Increase the diversity of plants on your property by allowing sunlight to reach the soil and encourage germination of native seeds;
Prevent future wildfires;
Control the amount of pests;
Enhance the aesthetic and beauty of the land;
Improve the quality of the water.

Combined with proper forest management practices, prescribed fire is transformational for wildlife habitat. Additional sunlight reaching the ground allows a diversity of native plants to grow, which in turn provides fawning and brood-rearing cover for protection as well as increased fruit and seed production at ground level. This increases insect life for young birds such as turkey and quail, as well as seasonal nut and acorn production of remaining trees by allowing space for crown development. A grassland or forest well managed by prescribed fire will increase nutritional carrying capacity for the wildlife it supports.

Before

After

Assistance Available for Implementing Prescribed Fire

AGFC provides landowners with incentives for implementing prescribed fire on their private land. For more information contact one of our Private Lands Biologists.
Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs) are groups of landowners who pool their knowledge, equipment and resources to conduct prescribed fires together. Membership allows local PBA’s access to burn trailers, training and other resources from the Arkansas State Prescribed Burn Association. For more information visit the Arkansas State Prescribed Burn Associations page.
AGFC and Quail Forever biologists can assist in conducting prescribed burns, along with private contractors and consultants.
Qualified prescribed burners are individuals who are trained to conduct prescribed burns in Arkansas. According to the Arkansas Prescribed Burning Act (Act 695), landowners are granted liability protection when qualified burns are conducted. Learn more about the qualified prescribed burner program and how to register.

What is a Prescribed Burn Association?

Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs) are groups of landowners who form partnerships to pool their knowledge, equipment, and other resources to conduct prescribed fires. While this is a recently developed program in Arkansas, there are established PBAs in surrounding states. They generally have a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and board members. Once a prescribed burn association is established, they will receive training and can apply for a burn trailer and equipment provided in partnership by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Quail Forever, and United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

If you are interested in more information about Prescribed Burn Associations or starting a Prescribed Burn Association in your county, please contact Courtney Todd at: ctodd@quailforever.org.

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Express Interest For The 2025 Conservation Incentive Program

The post Prescribed Fire appeared first on Arkansas Game & Fish Commission.

Conservation Incentive Program (CIP)

Verity Callahan — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 21:28:55 +0000

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Conservation Incentive Program (CIP)

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Private Lands Habitat Division

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Landowners

Sept. 26 | 11 a.m.-5 p.m. | Benton Event Center

Find Public Access to Private Waters Near You

At the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, our mission is to conserve and enhance our state’s wildlife and their habitats. It’s a job we take to heart and one we never take for granted. But our state is vast and only 10% of it is public land that we can manage. We need partners. People who are part of this natural wonder every day of their lives. Landowners who appreciate the unique resources that few have, and who take the responsibility of their land seriously.

Landowners are, and always have been, the cornerstone to conservation efforts and wildlife management in our state. If you’re willing to put in the effort and do the hard work with us, we’re willing to reward you for it.

We have numerous programs that will make your land more valuable to the fish and wildlife on your property, that reflect our shared values and will help keep The Natural State, natural.

AGFC would also like to express appreciation of our partners in the Arkansas General Assembly and Arkansas Legislative Council for their support for this program.

Click here to find a Private Lands Biologist in your area.

Applications for the Conservation Incentive Program will be available on September 1 and close September 30. Please be aware that all applications will go through a ranking period after they close, and only the highest-ranking projects will be selected for funding. We anticipate to notify all applicants of their approval status after the ranking period has concluded.

Click below to watch a video about the 2024 Conservation Incentive Program.

For more information, download our Conservation Incentive Program guide.

Purpose
Forest management practices improve the habitat conditions in hardwood and pine forests to achieve ecological benefits for ground-nesting birds such as northern bobwhite and eastern wild turkey.

Practice
Eligible lands are upland hardwood or pine forest with a current basal area greater than 80 square feet per acre that would benefit from management-promoting understory plants for nesting, brood rearing and feeding resources for ground-nesting birds. Treatment must reduce forest density by a minimum of 30% and will target primarily trees 8 inch diameter at breast height (dbh) and smaller. Forested stands with a current basal area greater than 120 square feet per acre are also eligible but will not be reduced to more than 50% basal area. Management options include timber stand improvement using herbicide (hack and squirt), cut and drop, and cut stump. Herbicide applicators must follow specific product label recommendations for the hack-and-squirt method of tree injection.

Timber Stand Improvement:$200/acre

Monitoring
AGFC staff or its agents will conduct at least one monitoring check to confirm completion of listed management practices, objectives were met and to ensure best management practices were followed.

Required Documentation

Property boundary map
Approved management plan with map and documentation of author

Purpose
Prescribed burns improve forest, woodland, savanna and native grassland habitats for wildlife. Outcomes will enhance habitat diversity by increasing native plant quality, quantity and vigor for wildlife use throughout their life cycles.

Practice
Qualifying firebreaks must be established using best management practices and designed as part of a prescribed burn plan written by a prescribed fire professional. Qualifying prescribed burns are restricted to predominantly native vegetation or as an approved project to restore native vegetation. Prescribed burning of agricultural stubble or pastures/hay meadows with introduced grasses does not qualify.

Dozer Lines: $1.50 per linear foot

Prescribed Burning: $50/acre

Payment will be made once all practices are completed. An approved burn plan written by professional burner will need to be provided for payment.

Monitoring
AGFC staff or its agents will conduct one monitoring check following the completion of firebreak installation to ensure best management practices were followed and lines were installed correctly. AGFC staff or its agents will conduct one monitoring postburn to ensure the approved burn plan objectives were met.

Required Documentation

Property Boundary Map
Approved management plan with map and documentation of author

Purpose
Incentivizing control of non native (invasive) tree species encourages landowners to help reduce the threats and impacts of invasive plant species to Arkansas’s wildlife and plant communities, and the habitats in which they occur.

Practice
A part of integrated vegetation management is the removal of invasive woody plants as outlined in an approved management plan. Invasive tree species that qualify include: Chinese Tallow, Tree of Heaven, and Callery Pear. The removal process must include the use of herbicide. This practice is intended to restore the desired plant community consistent with the ecological site. Herbicides must be used according to the product label and align with an approved habitat management plan.

Invasive Tree Removal:$200/acre

Payment will be made once practice is completed.

Click here for more information about Arkansas’s Aquatic Nuisance Species.

Click here for more information about Arkansas’s terrestrial invasive plants.

Required Documentation

Property boundary map
Approved management plan with map and documentation of author

AGFC Conservation Incentive Program

Program Coordinator

Phone 833-345-0325

Email conservationincentiveprogram@agfc.ar.gov

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More on Private Lands Habitat Division

Private Lands Habitat Division

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