Perceptions of prescribed fire among ranchers near northern US National Grasslands

Authors: McGranahan, Devan; BOLAND, KAYLEE - North Dakota State University; GEAUMONT, BENJAMIN - North Dakota State University; WONKKA, CARISSA - University Of Florida; OTT, JACQUELINE - Us Forest Service (FS); KREUTER, URS - Texas A&M University

Submitted to: Fire
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2025
Publication Date: 3/4/2025
Citation: McGranahan, D.A., Boland, K., Geaumont, B., Wonkka, C.L., Ott, J.P., Kreuter, U.P. 2025. Perceptions of prescribed fire among ranchers near northern US National Grasslands. Fire. 8(3). Article 102. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire8030102.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/fire8030102

Interpretive Summary: Many ranchers have negative perceptions of prescribed fire or experience limitations on resources or liability constraints that prevent them from burning. Overcoming these barriers might increase the willingness of rangeland managers to consider prescribed fire use and realize the potential benefits of this natural process. To determine how the potential to shift barriers related to liability and resources away from ranchers themselves might affect attitudes towards prescribed fire, ARS scientists teamed up with university and US Forest Service researchers to survey ranchers around four National Grasslands in North and South Dakota, where grazing is leased to local ranchers who also own their own rangeland. Respondents were interested in stewardship and want managers to prioritize sound science, but also had negative perceptions of fire and little awareness of potential benefits of burning grazingland. Thus, the primary barriers to prescribed fire use in these communities appear to be negative perceptions. Information from trusted sources might help counteract negative perceptions of prescribed fire use ahead of attempts to establish prescribed burning programs not only on the 546 grazing allotments in these nearly 1.2 million acres of public grazingland, but the permittees' privately-owned base ranch acres as well.

Technical Abstract: Many barriers prevent ranchers from supporting prescribed fire on land their livestock graze or conducting burns on their own land, ranging from negative perceptions of fire that preclude contemplation of its use, to limitations on resources or liability constraints among those willing to burn. We surveyed ranching landowners around four National Grasslands in North and South Dakota—public grazinglands managed by the US Forest Service—to determine how the potential to shift barriers related to liability and resources away from ranchers themselves might affect attitudes towards prescribed fire and provide insight into opportunities to increase prescribed burning in the broader landscape. Respondents reported being motivated by an interest in stewardship and want managers to prioritize sound science in making decisions on the Grasslands. But respondents generally had negative perceptions of fire and reported little awareness of potential benefits. With respect to prescribed fire, specifically, respondents reported their greatest degree of trust in Pheasants Forever and county Extension, and their lowest trust in the US Forest Service. Our data suggest that despite their proximity to public grazingland where the risk and resource barriers for prescribed burning would be borne by the US Forest Service, respondents disagreed prescribed fire use on the Grasslands should be increased and appeared to have no greater readiness to conduct prescribed burns on their own ranches than most private landowners elsewhere in the Great Plains. As the primary barriers to prescribed fire use in these communities appear to be negative perceptions, educational materials from trusted sources might help counteract negative perceptions of prescribed fire use ahead of attempts to establish prescribed burning programs.