On a sunny day last May, Craig Larson saw 110 acres of grassland on his ranch in Sheridan County, N.D., go up flames. Driven by a steady breeze, the fire chewed quickly through the heavy thatch on the soil surface. The 2-foot tall orange flames seemed alive as they leapt over each other. White smoke billowed into the blue sky.
But Larson didnât despair.
It was a planned burn being done by the North Dakota Prescribed Fire Cooperative â a coalition led by Audubon Dakota that provides landowners with prescribed burns to improve grasslands for cattle and wildlife and demonstrate the value of fire as a grassland management tool.