EQIP program

[Razorback]

We finally had our EQIP application approved this year and are currently clearing fire lanes around our property and dozing about 25 acres that are just overgrown red cedar thickets. We have 200 acres total. Amazing is a word overused sometimes but the transformation of our place is pretty amazing. I plan on posting pics and making this a land tour thread.
Part of the cedar thicket clearing process involves piling up the cedars in big piles. We also are approved to use our state Acres for Wildlife program, which pays for chemicals to kill fescue, bermudagrass, and serecia lesoedeza and also pays for native warm season grass planting. We had so many cedars that that piles are big and plentiful.
Anyone have any experience with this? My main question is how long the cedars need to dry before we can burn them? I'm wanting to plant the nwsg next winter but really want the cedar piles gone before I do. Looking forward to your replies and the continued work on our place. Pics will follow.

 

[Needmorebrush82]

Red cedar will burn anytime unless it is wet. I had a dozer pile giant piles and burned them the same week before any new growth had a chance. They are full of oil and once they heat up they will only leave ashes behind. I know it's terrible for the environment but a tire soaked in diesel is the way to go when burning them. In Oklahoma with the grass fires red cedars explode in flames while totally green and living.

 

[Razorback]

Red cedar will burn anytime unless it is wet. I had a dozer pile giant piles and burned them the same week before any new growth had a chance. They are full of oil and once they heat up they will only leave ashes behind. I know it's terrible for the environment but a tire soaked in diesel is the way to go when burning them. In Oklahoma with the grass fires red cedars explode in flames while totally green and living.

Since I hate them with a passion I may just try and set them on fire this weekend. If it just tortures them and doesn't burn them up completely I'll get satisfaction from that and the knowledge I'll get to burn them again at a later date.

 

[dgallow]

I hate to doze pile and burn anything. Would rather cut and then burn through it....or haul/drag cut cedars back into a burn unit to burn whenever. I hope the dozer operator kept the blade above the soil! But, I understand what you are doing.

You could probably get some of the crew over at the beef/forestry substation to help with burns. They burn about every spring and have the equipment. I would also recommend starting a TSI program after first burn to jumpstart plant succession...the forestry crew could guide you through this. When you burn through timber which is too dense, fire will scarify latent native seeds and they will germinate....however, if too much shade they won't persist very long and you lose that successional opportunity...maybe forever. IMO....burning without thinning is not much better than doing nothing....and not deadening cull trees may not free up enough soil resources for your successional plants to thrive or give you more stump sprouts than you ever wanted!

Thinning a 200 ac burn unit in one year is more than most 1 or 2 folks can handle. 25-40 acres is doable for one person working weekends. So you will want about 4 burn/thin units of that size....burning on a 3-5 yr rotation depending on fall/winter soil moisture/drought. Have the dozer guy make some interior burn lanes for you within the 200 ac. Figure 2-3 burn/thin events for each unit depending on timber density.....so about 10 years to get established/functional savanna or thinned woodland rangeland. I am talking about uplands in that case. Bottomlands need to be treated separately since fire doesn't carry well through them....thin first so wind can move through the bottom, then burn.

Minimum acreage for EQIP burn is 25 ac and the cost share $6/ac (that is for OK NRCS)....it helps but it won't pay for much of the total cost (depending on hired labor). NRCS will also write your burn plan for EQIP (part of their training process).

What exact type of succession you will get in that area I can't tell you. It will depend on past history of land use over the last 150 years. IF it was farmed at one time, you will get lots of broomshedge and blackberry. Closer to Calico Rock, expect more of a little bluestem type community.....closer to the river expect more big bluestem tall grass community.

I am usually over in that area 2-3 times a year....so maybe one time we can hook-up for a visit. Burning/thinning scrub timber is the best thing we have done for wildlife habitat in timbered rangeland.

 

[Satguy]

I would burn those cedar piles in February. They would have turned brown by then and the humidity is lower on real cold days. They should burn quicker and more complete.

 

[buckdeer1]

Just make sure and follow all the local laws and notify the FD,also have plenty of help,snow on the ground helps alot or throw a piece of plastic over part until a shower comes up then you will want to push apart the ash pile after all cooled down