Successful Spring Burn at Knife River Indian Villages NHS

Using fire to reinvigorate the prairie and reduce hazardous fuels near the Big Hidatsa village site.

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Spring prescribed fires at Knife River Indian Villages NHS were conducted on May 15, 2023. Fire staff from the National Park Service Border Parks Fire Management Zone, based out of Theodore Roosevelt National Park provided leadership and expertise to personnel that assisted with the burns. Qualified fire personnel and equipment from the NPS Border Park Fire Management Zone, the Black Hills Fire Module, based out of Wind Cave National Park, fire staff from Grand Teton National Park, the North Dakota Forest Service, and local park staff from Knife River Indian Villages NHS all were on hand to ensure that the prescribed fires went as planned.

Approximately one-fourth, 450 acres of the 1,758-acre park were burned in four separate units. The Big Hidatsa, Big Hidatsa East, Running Deer and North Prairie units make up just a portion of the areas that have been identified in the park fire management plan (FMP) where prescribed fire is an appropriate tool for managing the landscape. Weather conditions the day of the burns were within the “prescribed” parameters, allowing all four units to be burned in succession. Humidity, wind speed and wind direction, amongst other factors, are used to determine optimum conditions under which they will conduct the burns. Smoke impact was not an issue as winds provided a very favorable lift to the smoke column and good dispersion.

Prescribed fire is an integral tool in managing prairie ecosystems. Knife River management staff has determined that the preferred alternative for the restoration of native prairie in these areas is to use prescribed fire in conjunction with re-seeding of native grass species. Prescribed fire can also be used to reduce fuels around buildings, remove hazard fuels in the vicinity of cultural resource sites, maintain habitats of listed species, maintain historic scenes, restore grasslands, or aid in the control of exotic species, and where appropriate, restore or maintain natural vegetation or reduce excessively high fuel loadings throughout the park.

Burn units contain research plots that help park scientists document and better understand the effects of fire on native and non-native vegetation. Dan Angelo assistant fire management officer for the Border Parks Fire Management Zone, gave his initial impressions following the burns, “The smooth brome grass, which is a non-native, invasive species, was far enough along in its development that I'm certain we hurt it enough that it won't produce any seed this year, and in doing so, we gave an advantage to the native grasses and forbs. The small trees and shrubs that are spreading into the prairie were also hurt, in many cases "top-killed", in our successful effort to maintain the prairie in the historic way of fire occurrence.”

Restoration of the native prairie might be the primary reason for conducting a prescribed fire, but it also has additional benefits, including reducing the potential for a catastrophic wildfire. Angelo added, “Where pockets of larger dead and down trees were located, we were able to reduce the hazardous fuel loading by consuming much of the material that was laying on the ground, thus preventing the accumulation of the fuels which would result in increased difficulty in the event of wildfire suppression on the park.”

Reduction of wood vegetation encroachment at Knife River Indian Villages NHS

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Distant smoke from a prescribed burn in May 2023 at Knife River Indian Villages NHS.

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