Fire Managers on the Bessey Ranger District of the Nebraska National Forest plan to conduct a series of prescribed broadcasts burns beginning the week of April 1 through May 8, 2024 as weather conditions allow. The broadcast burns are planned on up to 3,000 acres of Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest, nestled in the Nebraska Sandhills.
The prescribed burns are intended to reduce the encroachment of Eastern red cedar trees into the native prairie. Staff on the District have already cut and piled about 3,000 acres of large Eastern red cedar trees off the grasslands on the Bessey Ranger District this year. Experience from past years shows that broadcast burning kills about 90 percent of the young Eastern red cedar trees, three feet tall or less and up to half of the larger ones. Because we can cover large acreages, burning is the most economical method of preventing cedar encroachment. Low-intensity fire is a natural disturbance process that can rejuvenate the grasslands and promote forbs that support pollinators.
Prescribed fires are managed with constant firefighter observation, and public safety is priority.
Smoke from the prescribed burns may be visible from Merriman, Cody, Nenzel, Kilgore, Crookston, Valentine, Kennedy, Highway 97, Highway 20, Highway 83, and other areas around the North Central Sandhills. Lingering smoke may be present for up to one week after ignitions are complete. We post notification of operations on our Facebook page on the day of the prescribed burn: https://www.facebook.com/NebraskaForestsGrasslands/. If you have questions or you would like to be notified personally on the day the broadcast burns take place, please call the front desk at (308) 533-2257 or email amanda.medaries@usda.gov and they will get you in touch with the appropriate contact.