SEASONAL-VARIATIONS IN FUEL AND FUEL CONSUMPTION BY FIRES IN A BLUESTEM PRAIRIE

Plots in an ungrazed, re-established grassland near Omaha, Nebraska, USA, dominated by little bluestem (Andropogon scoparius), were burned at 3-wk intervals from March through Nov. 1976. The amount of vegetative biomass consumed during burning, a measure of flammability, was high throughout the study period, varying from > 99% in April to 84% in mid-June. Areas burned in March were able to carry a 2nd fire in Oct. of the same year. High flammability throughout the growing season, in conjunction with current fire and climatic records, suggests that widespread, late-summer fires were probably common in presettlement, ungrazed, bluestem prairies.