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Firefighters from around the region assisted
Wind Cave National Park in conducting a 1,200-acre prescribed
burn on October 25. The Tower Burn, one of four burns planned
for the heavy timber area along Rankin Ridge, was ignited
at 10:30 a.m. under clear sunny skies. Once the perimeter
of the fire was burned out by crews using drip torches, a
helicopter began dropping incendiary Ping-Pong ball-like devices
to assist in igniting fuels in the center of the burn.
“We were glad to be able to complete
this burn. Anytime you are using fire to reach resource management
goals, you have to closely watch weather and fuel conditions.
We wanted to burn it last year, but the conditions were never
within prescription,” said Linda L. Stoll, Park Superintendent.
“In the coming weeks, our staff will be monitoring burn
plots to see if we reached our goals of reducing the accumulated
fuel loads and overstory canopy cover.”
The area burned was primarily ponderosa
pine forest with some mixed-grass prairie. The burn was conducted
with assistance from other National Park Service units, Bureau
of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest
Service, and the State of South Dakota, including an engine
from Custer State Park.
This burn represents a continuation
of the park's successful prescribed fire program which began
in 1972. Prescribed fires maintain the balance between forest
and prairie, remove the buildup of dead fuels lessening the
chance of a catastrophic wildfire, and rejuvenate the native
prairie grasses.
Contact: Tom
Farrell, Chief of Interpretation
Phone: (605) 745-1130 |
