New Arkansas Prescribed Burn Association to help habitat enhancement in the state

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LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — The Arkansas Prescribed Burn Association (APBA) held its first meeting in mid-October since its formation earlier this year.

The meeting marks the beginning of a new era for habitat enhancement across Arkansas.

Despite the seemingly contradicting use of fire to manage habitats during the state's burn ban, the use of prescribed bans is one of the best ways to fight potential wildfires.

“Properly planned prescribed burns reduce the fuel load which can lessen or even eliminate wildfires,” Thomas Baldridge, one of the APBA’s three directors, said. “But that’s only part of the benefit of prescribed fire. It’s the number one tool available to land managers to increase wildlife habitat for turkeys, quail, deer, and all sorts of other species.”

Kenneth Rosenberg conducted a study that reported that in the last 50 years, North America's bird populations decreased by 2.9 billion birds, which largely contributed to the loss of grassland.

The prescribed fires will help open up dense underbrush, which will promote seed-producing grasses and forbs that benefit grassland species year-round.

Many landowners will normally attempt to manipulate their land through dirt work or planting food plots, but the introduction of prescribed fires will help fight against the loss of wildlife habitat.

“Fire provides the best return for the least amount of cost, and depending on how and when you conduct the fire, it can promote a variety of plant species that benefit wildlife in different ways,” Randy Brents, assistant chief of the AGFC’s Private Lands Habitat Division, said. “AGFC private lands biologists and wildlife management biologists have been working for decades to put more fire on the landscape to increase habitat for game and non-game wildlife. Last year, our staff burned 18,903 acres on private land and WMAs and assisted partner agencies in burning 28,702 more acres. Prescribed burn associations are the way to increase those numbers exponentially.”

Baldridge says that the introduction of APBA continues the work that the AGFC and other partnering organizations have been working to accomplish for years now.

“The AGFC started building prescribed burn associations a few years ago, and most of our members have been fortunate to have worked with many of the staff from the AGFC, Quail Forever, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on burns and other private land habitat projects. The APBA just sort of seemed to be a missing piece to the puzzle that was already being put together,” Baldridge said.

The APBA is an umbrella organization that consists of recruiting and maintaining groups of landowners who will conduct prescribed burns across the state.

Des Arc native Hunter Johnson and Searcy native Catrina Mendoza share the responsibilities of director with Baldridge who is also from Searcy.

“We had nine previously existing prescribed burn associations show up to our first meeting, and we’re looking for ways to reach out to new groups of landowners and build this into something large enough to really make a difference on Arkansas’s landscape."

Baldridge says the APBA used states like Oklahoma and Florida as templates to follow in their formation. “Oklahoma really sets the standard for a statewide prescribed burn association. They’ve grown to a massive organization with a budget over $1 million and eight full-time staff members to support all of their chapters.”

The organization was able to build a firm foundation thanks to contributions from the AGFC, Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation, USFWS, and Quail Forever.

The AGFC donated $25,000, USFWS gave $50,000, and Quail Forever gave $17,000 that came from their specialty license plate sales.

Other than monetary donations, Baldridge says the organization also received donations of trailers, safety gear, and other prescribed burn necessities, which caused the start-up assistance to reach over $200,000 in funding and equipment.

Because of the organizations' use of volunteers, all the funding will be put into the use of prescribed fires on landscapes.

“Quail Forever and AGFC had procured the trailers and equipment to help work with prescribed burn associations in the state, so transferring them to us was a natural next step,” Baldridge said.

Those who join the prescribed burn association will receive equipment (drip torches, fire rakes, leaf blowers, and other accessories).

By joining, landowners also save money on equipment that they may use once every one or two years, by sharing them with other landowners.

This allows everyone to partake in helping build a better habitat in Arkansas.

The other huge benefit of a prescribed burn association is personnel,” Baldridge said. “Someone may have a few hundred acres to burn, but they need a small group of people to conduct it safely,” Baldridge said. “By joining a PBA, everyone pitches in to help everyone else in the group.”

To learn more about the APBA or how to set up a new prescribed burn association in your area, click here.

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