It is one that Barnier can veto or modify if he feels the risk is too high. Keir has been burning for close to 20 years, and has never lost a building. But in 1982, he said, flames jumped the fire break, though they stayed on prairie chicken land. Even so, he calls it nerve-wracking. Some but not much, Keir said.
Birds fly away and rodents go underground.
Even most insects get out of the way. Burning isn't just for prairie chickens. There's burning along Emmons Creek for prairie restoration, in the Mead Wildlife Area for waterfowl and prairie chickens, and in the Sandhill Wildlife Area for oak savannas, pine barrens and wetland habitat.