EPA Research Partner Support Story: Prairie rangeland burning
Partner: Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE)
Challenge: Understanding trade-offs associated with prairie rangeland burning
Resource: Multi-model framework and decision support tool in support of Kansas Flint Hills Smoke Management
Project Period: 2018 – Present
The Flint Hills ecoregion of eastern Kansas and northern Oklahoma is home to the largest (10,000 square miles) remaining contiguous natural grassland prairie in the U.S. Throughout the region, land managers frequently use controlled burns to sustain the natural prairie ecosystem from the encroachment of eastern Red Cedar and other woody species, and to enhance the quantity and quality of the grasses for cattle grazing. However, smoke from widespread prescribed spring burning can under certain conditions exceed air quality limits and impacted urban areas such as Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita.
“Kansas Department of Health and Environment is excited and optimistic about the potential uses of this multi-model framework, including predicted spatial and temporal patterns of surface fuel loads, live biomass (forage), and soil moisture information that can be used to supplement our existing Flint Hills Smoke Management Plan modeling tool.” – KDHE Division of Environment former Director John Mitchell
To assist rangeland managers and local and state officials in better understanding the economic, ecological and human health trade-offs of rangeland burning in Flint Hills, EPA Region 7 (Midwest) and ORD are collaborating with KDHE to establish a user-friendly, multi-model framework for visualizing historical and hypothetical burning scenarios, including changes in the location, timing and frequency of rangeland burning practices. Part of this effort involves characterizing the emissions from the Flint Hills prescribed burning in both the spring and fall seasons. ORD has conducted aerial sampling with an instrumented, tethered aerostat as well as ground sampling to derive emission factors that characterize the amount and nature of the smoke. Tangible products of the research include computer-generated spatial and temporal maps of predicted changes in rangeland productivity and air quality. Stakeholders and decision makers can use these resources to identify best case scenarios for land management that strike a balance between the environmental, economic, and human health objectives of rural and urban communities.