Burning Fires once swept across hundreds of miles of the unbroken prairie landscape. Prairie can thrive with fire. Unlike trees, the growing points of prairie grasses and plants are below ground, protected from fire. Fire removes built-up litter from dead prairie vegetation and can consume sprouting trees and shrubs which may otherwise overrun prairie. Burning can be an effective, economical means to rejuvenate grasslands, reduce undesirable plants, and set back shrub invasion.
Forage is generally more palatable, nutritious and more abundant after a burn.
Burning removes dead vegetation and litter which can build up and reduce plant vigor. Undesirable non-native plants such as smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass can be reduced by burning during the correct season. Grazing and Rest Prairie plants are also adapted to grazing. Native grazers such as bison helped maintain diverse prairie habitats by altering the vegetation height and density. These animals grazed at different intensities and frequencies, creating patches of heavily to lightly grazed prairie.