by BECKY GOFF
Little Apple Post
MANHATTAN - Researchers at Kansas State University are part of a team that has been awarded a National Science Foundation(NSF) grant of $2 million to develop technology to boost the safety of prescribed burning.
Prescribed burning is used to intentionally set vegetation on fire to manage the land and natural resources and offers a variety of benefits.
Benefits include replenishing soil nutrients, increasing forage production for livestock and decreasing invasive plant overgrowth.
Prescribed burns also reduce the risk and impact from uncontrolled wildfires while removing built-up vegetation.
The aptly named project, "Smart and Safe Prescribed Burning for Rangeland and Wildland Urban Interface Communities," connects research in social sciences and engineering to develop innovatice technology to support safer burning practices.
K-State researchers involved in the project are Audrey Joslin, associate professor of geography and geospatial sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences; Zifei Liu, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering in the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering; and Walter Fick, professor of agronomy and extension rangeland management specialist in the College of Agriculture.
Researchers are collaborating with landowners and members of the Eastern Kansas and Gyp Hills Prescribed Burn Associations in the areas of Medicine Lodge and Paola and are also doing outreach with schools in the area.
"I hope my research will aid the user-friendliness of the technology we develop so that it meets the needs of communities engaging in prescribed burning," Joslin said.
Other institutions involved in the project are Georgia State University, the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri. Their portion of the project is focused on fire behavior, grassland fuel mapping and hot-spot detection.
"Our long-term goal is to make prescribed burning safer so that land managers in Kansas and beyond will feel capable and comfortable enough to make more use of that beneficial strategy," Joslin said.