Michler & Brown, LLC

Essentially all of our work is done "by hand." For brush work, we use chain saws and hand-held gas powered brush cutter. For herbicide application we use everything from backpack sprayers, to  a truck with a pumper unit for herbiciding large monocultures of invasive species.  The pumper truck is also used for setting down wet lines for controlled burns.  Our entire crew is certified in herbicide application for both Forestry and Aquatic Categories.

Prescribed burns

The most common time to burn is spring and to a lesser extent, fall due  to weather factors and seasonal growing patterns. Though burning can happen in the summer, it's not usually done because the fuel is greener and the humidity generally higher which makes burning more difficult.  In addition, more plants are in the prime of the growing and seeding season in the summer and are likely to be heavily damaged by burning.

Objectives:  The main reason for burning is to kill annual weeds (cool season grasses for example) that come out earlier in the spring than the native plants.  Additionally, burning sets back or kills biennial and perennial weeds that are also present.  In native prairies, most perennial grasses and forbs are less affected by fire because they come out later in the spring and they have large underground root systems that will promote growth even if damage does occur.  In savannas most of the native trees and shrubs have developed more fire tolerance than exotic trees and shrubs.  In addition, both of these types of ecosystems evolved with periodic fires.   

 
Photo by C. Wright
 

Michler and Brown LLC has been involved in hundreds of prescribed burns in the last decade and all of its staff are trained in burn safety classes.  All are experienced in prairie, savanna and woodland burns, and most have been burn bosses or line bosses.