When fire is planned and controlled properly, it can be a useful tool to manage unwanted plants and improve wildlife habitat. Learn how at the 2018 Nebraska Prescribed Fire Conference on Thursday, Dec. 6, in Kearney.

Are cedar trees increasingly noticeable in your pastures? Are brome, cheatgrass, and bluegrass overtaking your native warm-season grasses?  Does your CRP land seem bunchy and full of dead litter that’s smothering new growth?

These are just a few of the problems that a prescribed burn can help solve. The problem with using fire, though, is that you need to know how and when to use it as well as where the fire will go after you light it.  You also need to be able to put it out and keep it from burning something you don’t want to burn.

While wildfires can be destructive and deadly, under the right conditions and with proper planning and control, a prescribed burn can be beneficial.

But well-planned and controlled prescribed burns don’t just happen. It takes understanding of how fire reacts in certain weather conditions, with particular fuel loads, and on various types of topography.

You can begin to learn how to conduct a safe, legal, and effective prescribed burn at the 2018 Nebraska Prescribed Fire Conference Thursday, Dec. 6 in the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Kearney. The conference agenda and registration information is available online at www.nefirecouncil.org.