RESEARCH SUMMARY 



Prescribed burning is an inexpensive management tool which can be used 

 for converting pinyon-juniper woodlands to brush-grassland communities 

 that benefit wildlife and livestock grazing. One of the difficulties of prescribed 

 burning is predicting whether or not conditions are right for a successful 

 burn. In this study, 30 prescribed burns, were attempted out of fire season 

 from fall 1974 to fall 1976. These attempts were made during varied atmos- 

 pheric conditions and in several pinyon-juniper communities, but only 12 of 

 the 30 attempts were successful. An analysis of the burns showed that the 

 success of a burn could be predicted accurately (89 percent) by adding together 

 the maximum windspeed in miles per hour, the air temperature in degrees 

 Fahrenheit, and the percentage of vegetation cover (windspeed [mi/h] + air 

 temperature [°F] + vegetation cover [percent] = score). If the score thus ob- 

 tained was less than 110, the fire would not burn; if it was greater than 130 

 it was too hazardous to light. Scores between 110 ana 125 produced fires 

 which needed continual retorching, and scores between 126 ana 130 pro- 

 duced fires that carried by themselves and created clean burns. Fires were 

 most successful in dispersed, scattered and dense pinvon-juniper stands, 

 less successful in open and closed stands. The best ignition technique was to 

 have two people walk perpendicular to the wind along the windward edge of the 

 area to be burned headfiring and ignite trees using smudge pot lighters. 



