Time to begin controlled burning of fields is near
Back in 2006, USDA offered contract extensions to hundreds of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) participants with contracts set to end over the next half dozen years. When that occurred, all those interested were required to have an inspection of all fields in the program.
A number of compliance problems were found during this process that have since been addressed by the applicable landowners in their attempt to clean up the noxious weeds and tree sprouts -- the most commonly encountered problems. Since then, the Bourbon County FSA Committee has been working toward completing a field inspection of the rest of the CRP fields that were not visited that summer.
Last summer (2009) marked the completion of the process to visit every CRP field in the county over the four year span started during the dry and hot summer of 2006. Every field has now been visited with a number of those still in need of weed or brush treatment.
(Yes, it was actually dry that summer. June, 2006 records show a 66 percent deficiency in rainfall from the norm for the month; August a 71 percent deficiency; and September, an 87 percent deficiency.)
That, of course, has not been the case recently, but consider this: it has not rained, snowed, or iced at Fort Scott since .80 inch of rain fell on February 21. That means it has not rained for over 2 weeks! (It may have rained since I wrote this on Monday, but at least the mud is beginning to solid up some!)
Back to CRP maintenance: as mentioned above, the most common problems over each of these years -- found in field after field -- were uncontrolled noxious weeds (primarily sericea lespedeza), and uncontrolled tree sprouts. Many of thesee CRP fields will also need some attention this year.
For native grass cover, a late spring burn (during the month of April) followed by a broadcast treatment with Remedy or Pasturegard (during the month of June) is suggested for all those fields with sericea lespedeza. If a native grass field was bush hogged last year in late summer, this likely knocked down the old growth enough to permit chemical treatment even if a burn cannot be accomplished this spring.
Speaking of burning CRP -- the Bourbon County Conservation District in cooperation with local Kansas Wildlife and Parks personnel is planning a Controlled Burn Workshop toward the end of March. When details are finalized I will include that information in this column.
A few CRP fields have a fescue or brome cover. Those fields should be burned early, in late February or early March, if needed. Since these species don't get as tall as the native grasses, chemical treatment is normally possible anyway during the June time frame even without a burn.
For treatment of tree sprouts, the late burn as well as the timely Remedy or Pasturegard treatment will help this problem too for most of the tree species found. Some tree species -- like red cedars -- are certainly affected by burning, and can many times be controlled with the fire; but if chemical treatment is needed, some additional herbicides should be added to the mix.
We have information available provided by K-State Research and Extension specialists for suggestions in dealing with these or any other "special" problems that might be found on CRP fields. Contact our office or your local extension office for this data. It's time to make arrangements for timely completion of the needed activities. We also have a list of those who have expressed willingness to do some of these needed tasks on a custom basis.
CRP participants are encouraged to contact your local FSA office if you have questions concerning this spring's compliance activities needed for your CRP fields! USDA is an equal opportunity provider and lender.
Editor's Note: Doug Niemeir is the County Executive Director for the USDA/Farm Service Agency. He can be reached by emailing him at Douglas.Niemeir@ks.usda.gov