# Grassland Wildfires in the Southern Great Plains: Monitoring Ecological Impacts and Recovery
## 1 Introduction  
The grasslands of the Great Plains support a large beef cattle industry that produces a significant portion of the US beef supply and is an important economic driver of the region. The grasslands are also critical for biodiversity, climate regulation, hydrologic function, and other ecosystem services [1; 2]. The grassland ecosystems of the Great Plains evolved with wildfire and grazing by large ruminant animals, so research on the management of grasslands for beef cattle production has traditionally focused on management of the wildfire and grazing regimes. While wildfire has always been a part of grassland ecosystems, [PERSON] et al. [3] found that large wildfires have increased in the grassland and savanna biomes of the Great Plains of North America from an average of 33.4 annually from 1985 to 1994 to 116.8 annually from 2005 to 2014. In the same timeframe, the area burned increased by 400% and the probability of large wildfireincreased by 70%. Their analysis showed no change in the seasonality of wildfire in the Great Plains. [PERSON] et al. [4] similarly found that large wildfire numbers and area burned increased from 1984-2011 across the western US, including the Southern Plains region, and that increased wildfire was associated with enhanced drought severity. Wildfire risks are affected by complex interactions of meteorology, climatology, land use, and management. Projections of increased temperature, changes of seasonality in precipitation, and longer droughs indicate that the climatic drivers of wildfire risk may increase in the future [5; 6]. [PERSON] et al. [7] described how the removal of wildfire following widespread settlement allowed the encroachment of woody plants dominated by _Juniperus virginiana_ into the Cross Timbers region of central Oklahoma, increasing wildfire risk because of the flammable nature of _J. virginiana_. [PERSON] et al. [8; 9] mapped the rapid encroachment of _J. virginiana_ into the grasslands of the Southern Great Plains in recent decades, which has significant implications for wildfire risks in the region. Additionally, [PERSON] et al. [10] identified woody plant encroachment into grasslands and savannas as a global phenomenon. While prescribed fire is a common practice to limit _J. virginiana_ encroachment in portions of the sub-humid Great Plains, the practice is not common in the semi-arid to arid regions. The social, economic, and ecological costs of wildfire in forest systems has received considerable attention [4; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18]. However, the serious challenges posed by large grassland wildfires to livestock-based agricultural operations have received less attention. Following a large grassland wildfire, there are urgent and long-term needs for assistance: to address the health issues of human population and livestock; restore utilities, fencing, shelter and other infrastructure lost to the fire; and provide feed to cattle and other livestock displaced from fire-impacted pastures [19]. There is also opportunity after the most urgent needs are addressed to engage communities in dialog about fire-preparedness [19]. Prescribed fire is a recommended management practice in the Great Plains grasslands, and much of the research on fire in the Great Plains grasslands deals with prescribed burning. In that case, spring regrowth following a prescribed fire provides high quality forage, but it is unknown whether vegetation regrowth is affected differently by hotter wildfires compared to prescribed fires. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of several satellite-based indices, specifically the Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI), the Enhanced Vegetative Index (EVI) the Leaf Water Stress Index (LSWI), as well as the satellite-based Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), to monitor the post-wildfire recovery of vegetation in a Great Plains grassland environment.