Photo By Stacey Reese | Maintenance employee/Civil Engineering Tech, Will Price from Kaw Lake Office utilizes...... read more read more
TULSA, Okla.– The Tulsa District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held prescribed fire training March 3–7. The course is part of the requirements for personnel who will participate in conducting prescribed burns on federal lands.
By training personnel in prescribed fire techniques, USACE reinforces its commitment to sustainable land management practices that benefit the environment and public land users. This course teaches personnel to conduct burns safely and effectively, balancing the need for human intervention with ecological benefits and promoting biodiversity.
“We conduct prescribed burns to meet management objectives,” said Tulsa District Biologist Stacy Dunkin. “These objectives are found in the guiding documents for the project, including the original Environmental Impact Statement and any supplements to the master plan or operations management plans. We always burn within our authorities and to meet a management objective.”
“These prescribed burns are a vital land management tool used to control woody encroachment and promote habitat diversity on USACE-managed lands,” said Dunkin. “Fire is an effective tool in maintaining and enhancing natural habitats.
Each year, new natural resource specialists and maintenance workers from projects around Tulsa District receive classroom and field instruction. As part of the instruction, teams conduct burns on the Fort Gibson wildlife management area in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
Classroom instruction covers subjects such as field preparation, planning, fire effects and the impact of weather on fire. Field training covers properly using fire equipment, such as hand tools and sprayer pumps.
John Weir, a fire ecologist at Oklahoma State University’s Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, teaches the course with assistance from Tulsa District Biologists Stacy Dunkin, Jason Person and Chris Gilliland.
In addition to first-time participants, some personnel who have already taken the introductory course return as part of some advanced training. These personnel are working with the instructors on becoming a burn boss. Being a burn boss qualifies them to create and implement burn plans for their projects.
For this part of the course, participants are assigned a section of land in the wildlife management area, where they will create a burn plan, coordinate with other burn bosses, and ensure they carry out their burn plans correctly and safely.
Eufaula Lake Natural Resource Specialist Ryan Parisotto took prescribed fire courses during his time at Oklahoma State University, where he saw the effects of prescribed fire and the benefits to the native ecosystems of Oklahoma rangeland by participating in several burns conducted on OSU research lands.
Parisotto participated in this year’s advanced course to fulfill the requirements to become a burn boss for USACE.
"Through my training, I’ve gone from simply understanding the benefits of prescribed fire to being able to write and execute burn plans in compliance with USACE policies and regulations," said Parisotto. "Prescribed fire is a vital tool for achieving land management objectives, and as public land managers, we must use it effectively."
This was the 15th annual Tulsa District prescribed fire training class held in partial fulfillment of the requirements for conducting prescribed fire on government lands outlined in ER1130-2-540. Seventeen natural resources specialists and maintenance staff from eleven civil works projects across the district attended the training.
The class conducted eight prescribed burns, covering 855 acres as part of the training. In addition to fulfilling regulation requirements, the course exposed participants to the ecological benefits of land management using prescribed fire.
“The most beneficial aspect of the training was the hands-on application of techniques and training,” said Dunkin. “Allowing participants to conduct prescribed fire in conjunction with classroom instruction reinforced the ideas and techniques to improve the learning experience.”
| Date Taken: | 03.10.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.11.2025 08:16 |
| Story ID: | 492425 |
| Location: | OKLAHOMA, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Prescribed fire training reinforces commitment to sustainable land management practices, by Stacey Reese, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
