Prescribed Burning

Prescribed burning is an ecological process that rejuvenates native prairies.  This page is a supplement to the Kansas Prescribed Burning Notebook and contains additional resources and links to assist landowners, ranchers, and wildlife enthusiasts in caring for the land they manage.

Why Prescribed Burning?

• Benefits of Rangeland Prescribed Burning
• Fire and Grasslands
• Big Bluestem Response to Prescribed Burning
• Wildlife Response to Prescribed Burning
• Forage Loss Due to Woody Encroachment
• Wildfire Risk Reduction
  • Wildfire: Preparing the ranch and farm
  • Wildfire preparation with prescribed burning and grazing
  • Is your ranch prepared for wildfire?
  • Home wildfire preparation
• Prescribed Burning Video Series

Weather

• Kansas Mesonet
• National Weather Service (NWS)
  • Grassland Fire Danger Index- Kansas
    • Grassland Fire Danger Index- Wichita area
    • Grassland Fire Danger Index- Pleasant Hill area
    • Grassland Fire Danger Index- Sprinfield, MO area
  • Fire Weather Information
    • Dodge City
    • Goodland
    • Hastings, NE
    • Pleasant Hill
    • Springfield, MO
    • Topeka
    • Wichita
• All Hazards Weather Radio Stations
• NWS spot forecast request (agencies only)

Burn Plan

• NRCS template
• One-page template
• Go/No Go Checklist (pdf)
• Fire Management Practices checklist (pdf)
• How to asess your prescribed burn location
• Prescribed burn fire safety
• Burning safely around power poles
• How to follow a burn plan
• Burn Plan Examples
  • Rangeland (pdf)
  • CRP (pdf)
  • Patch Burn (pdf)
  • Urban (pdf)

Cost

• Cost of conducting prescribed burns in the Great Plains
• Prescribed burn survey results

Liability

• Prescribed fire: understanding liability, laws and risk
• Prescribed burning legal issues
• Buring liability and Kansas Law
• Liability: prescribed fire’s scapegoat
• Liability and prescribed fire: perception and reality

Insurance

Note: The following companies sell prescribed burning insurance policies.  No endorsement is intended, nor is criticism implied of similar policies not mentioned.

• Prescribed Burn Insurers April 2025

Prescribed Burn Associations (PBA)

• Kansas Prescribed Burn Assocations-2022
• PBA Communication Kit
• Great Plains Fire Communication Kit
• Prescribed Burn Associations map

Fire Behavior, Brush and Weed Control

• Cedar Impact on Fire Behavior
• Cut and Stuff Practices for Enhanced Cedar Control with Prescribed Fire
• Maximizing Effectiveness of Growing Season Burns for Sericea Lespedeza Control
• Brush Pile Burning
  • Managing brush piles
  • Brush pile burning weather
  • When to burn brush piiles
• Spotfires and Escapes

Equipment

• Prescribed Burning Equipment (pdf)

Financial and Technical Support

• Kansas State University Extension
• Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
• Farm Service Agency (FSA)
• Kansas Conservation District Directory 2022 (pdf)
• Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks private lands biologists
• Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever biologists
• Kansas Forest Service
• Prescribed Fire Contractors and Consultants

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)

• Expiring CRP options- KSU
• Expiring CRP options- OSU
• Expiring CRP options- ISU
• Expiring CRP options- NRCS
• Expiring CRP options- wildlife

Handbooks

• Conducting Prescribed Fires: A Comprehensive Manual
• Oklahoma Prescribed Burning Handbook (pdf)
• Smoke Management for Prescribed Burning (pdf)

Regulations

• Kansas Open Burning Regulations
• Clarification of Section 28-19-647 (e) (pdf)

Flint Hills Fire Culture: A Legacy of Caring for the Land