Little can be done to change the first two factors but there is ample opportunity to change human attitudes about fire. We believe that people have been reluctant to include fire in resource management programs in the NGP because of a lack of adequate information about the effects of fire on the soils, plants, and animals in the region. This document provides information concerning fire effects on the grassland biome of the NGP, with special emphasis on the use of fire for wildlife management. In several instances we have drawn from published literature outside the geographic region, but only to provide a more complete reference for readers and decision makers. In most instances, we only state or abstract the published findings of others without interpretation, either pro or con.
Readers can fit the information into their specific circumstances.
English and scientific names are from Flora of the Great Plains by the Great Plains Flora Association and from the Checklist of vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. territories, and Canada by R.C. Banks, R.W. McDiarmid, and A.L. Gardner. Effects of fire in the Northern Great Plains. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Cooperative Extension Service, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota. Extension Circular 761. Effects of fire in the Northern Great Plains.