Planning and managing the low-intensity prescribed burn took many partners. Here Blackfoot Challenge Land Steward Brad Weltzein monitors the fire line near the house.
Burn Boss Carl Seielstad walks the line between the burn and the home.
Steve Kloetzel and his wife Andrea Morgan helped with the prescribed burning on their property.
OVANDO - “We know that prescribed fire is an important part of the ecosystem here. It makes our plant communities and forests healthier and makes our home safer,” said Steve Kloetzel, landowner.
A prescribed burn was done May 21, 2021. It included 80 acres of the Kloetzels’ land, 10 acres of Blackfoot Challenge land and 10 acres of Larry Richardson’s land on Boot Tree Road near Ovando, Montana.
“While prescribed burning is often used on public lands to benefit wildlife and reduce fuels, the Blackfoot Challenge is offering a prescribed burn program to work with private landowners to introduce fire on their land,” said Cindy Super, forestry and prescribed fire coordinator for the Blackfoot Challenge. “Not only will this bring the ecological benefits of low to moderate intensity fire to their land, it will also help reduce the risk of extreme fire behavior should their home be threatened by wildfire.”
In 2007 the Jocko Lakes fire threatened Seeley Lake. Super said she started learning how much ecosystems rely on fire to be “healthy.” However, she added, reintroducing fire comes with a plethora of challenges.
“One of the primary reasons to consider using prescribed fire on private property is to give these landowners an opportunity to receive the benefits of fire and it also gives fire managers better options when it comes to planning a fire. Fire doesn’t recognize our straight lines on the landscape,” Super said. “When we are wanting to influence fire behavior, some of the best ways to do that is to look for changes in topography and fuels. If we are able to put fire lines in areas where we can use those things to our advantage, it’s often safer and easier than trying to hold a fire at a property line.”
The Kloetzels have owned their property for eight years. When they bought it, the forest was heavily overstocked. They thinned the forest to make it healthier. After thinning, they wanted to burn it to take out non-native grasses and clean up woody debris. The Blackfoot Challenge was giving grants to assist private landowners with prescribed burning and Kloetzels took advantage of that opportunity.
“The Rice Ridge fire in 2017 was kind of a heads up,” said Andrea Morgan, Kloetzel’s wife. “We had the DNRC come out and give us pointers to be prepared.”
Kloetzel said that the biggest thing they did to protect their home from risks of fire was the thinning years earlier that eliminated the dense forest next to their house. In preparation for the prescribed fire, trees that hung over the house were removed. Although they mowed near the house and mowed a fire line on the property line, burning in May was one of the biggest controls since the forest floor was green. Typical prescribed burning windows are late April-mid May and late September - mid October before and after wildfire danger is high. In the spring, soils are wetter and the days are longer than fall making it easier to burn.
After two years of planning, the burn window was set for mid May 2021. Burn crews came from as far away as Colorado for the chance to volunteer and gain experience with prescribed fire. Carl Seielstad, Fire and Fuels Program manager with University of Montana was the burn boss and Ovando Volunteer Fire Department, Brad Weltzein and Super with the Blackfoot Challenge assisted as well as University of Montana Fire Ecology students. The Kloetzels and their son Adin were involved on the day of the burn. Three engines were used and 15 people participated.
“Because the landscape hadn’t seen fire in so long, there were tons of old stumps that needed to burn out,” said Kloetzel. “We patrolled the area for 14 days after the prescribed burn to monitor the stumps.”
The Kloetzels hope to continue with maintenance burning every five to eight years. Fire history and stump records tell that there were fires throughout the area every three to 25 years, said Kloetzel.
“As an aspect of making the forest healthier, we burned up a lot of the snowberry brush and created more grass and wildflowers for more forage for wildlife. Shrubs got burned and then when they resprouted, the deer, elk and moose browsed on them more readily last year,” said Kloetzel.
“The fire took a ton of planning and work. It was very professionally done and we never felt worried,” said Morgan. “And the fire improved all the habitat. A day or two afterwards the birds and wildlife were back on the land. Burning releases nutrients into the soil and the plants looked healthier that year.”
“Fire is a necessary part of our ecosystem. And it’s going to be here,” said Kloetzel. “Whether we want it to be or not, we have no choice. It’s not a matter of if your property is going to burn, it’s a matter of when. Anything you can do to prepare your property before the [wild]fire gets to you is a good thing.”
“The prescribed burn was far more predictable, managed and controlled than a wildfire,” added Morgan.
“The Blackfoot Challenge Forestry and Prescribed Fire program provided financial, logistical and technical expertise to support the cross-boundary Boot Tree / Kloetzel / Richardson burn. Specifically, we put the family in touch with a contractor who could write a burn plan and provided financial assistance for hiring contractors to conduct the burn,” Super said. “The Blackfoot Challenge is interested in supporting other landowners who would like this opportunity on their own property.”
Please contact Cindy Super [email protected] for more information.
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