Forester looked over my land today & said the timber was doing well, but could do even better if the underbrush were burned out this winter. Right now the pines are growing among thickets of blackberries, thistles, shrubs, and small hardwoods.

Here's my question: What would the impact be on the pond? Has anybody tried this?

I fear increased erosion, and possibly bad effects of charred runoff. But maybe this are minor matters...

Anybody done this? What was your experience?

PS At least some of the plants put in my pond two weeks ago are flourishing. Also noticed what look like small FHM in the shallows for the first time in a year!

I burn most all of my ground every other year or so - as long as you have established rooted plants/grasses/etc you shouldn't see much in the way of erosion. Proscribed burning is a great management technique as far as I'm concerned. I burn around all my ponds every single year - usually around February.

We burn. No problems with erosion. Plants recover quickly and it improves plant health/diversity.

Thanks. I like the idea of clearing the undergrowth, along with tick control -- we have loads of deer, which means ticks are an issue. Another thing on the to do list!

A friend of mine had a 168 acre place near Lovelady, TX...pasture and timber. He was attempting a "controlled" burn when the wind picked up and it quickly got out of hand. He had to call the local Fire Department to come and control it (put it out). The amazing thing was that for about a week, herds of deer would come to the burned area to lick the ash from the scorched ground. I understand that deer need something (natural) in the ash for their health. It was an amazing phenomenon.

In Arkansas, the state will do a perscribed burn for (IIRC) $23/acre. Cheap by my book!!!

Hey, thanks for the info. I'll check with Texas.

I've done two burns at my place. Both areas were 5 to 6 acres or around 12 acres total. One was located in a small portion of my pines. Neither were in the area of the pond. My purpose was to improve the native deer browse. I would have done a much larger area but was not able to get any assistance from known burn companies or any government offices. I spoke to two different fire dept's and they were pretty much (I don't want to know about it). Finally, one of the fire dept people pulled me off to the side and whispered to me, call us if it gets out of hand. I made sure I had plenty of help around when I lit up the pine area, just in case. And that area worked out pretty well but I will not do it again till I thin out my pine tree's so more sunlight will hit the ground.

The second burn did not go so well. The wind came up and the fire almost got out of hand. My tractor saved the day, but I did worry at the time I was going to lose a tractor and an operator at the time. I will not burn again unless I can get a burn company to do the job. Just my experience with burns, hope this helps. I would not do a burn in the pines, I would do a select cut if it were me, and it's not me. lol good luck and I hope I do not here of a forest fire in our area around the time of your planned burn Frank.

I burn an 8 acre parcel every 2 years and I dread it. That is the most stress that I go through every 2 years, and that is even with having a 50' back burned area around the perimeter. I have a tractor with a 60 gallon water tank/sprayer on hand too, but there is a lot that can happen fast if the wind does bad things.

Tracy, I'm surprised at the fired departments comments....I always found the rural fire dept's I dealt with would do the controlled burns, just for practice, training, and equipment checks.

I vividly remember my parents fighting a wildfire to protect our apartment in Oklahoma, many years ago. Not something I care to repeat.

Probably will look at either local fire dept or private company to do the burn. I have a couple of neighbors, so need to make sure whoever does it is fully insured! From what the forestry guy told me, it is generally done in the winter to reduce risk.

Rainman, that helpfulness is far from what happened to me. My property is on the boundary of two fire departments. I traveled to both depts. and I swear they did not want to know anything about it. I think if things went wrong they wanted no association at all. It really caught me by surprise on how they avoided even the discussion of a burn.

I built my pond primarily as a water source after a wildfire came to within 20 feet of our house in 2013. The whole town was on fire... what a helpless feeling when you call for help and the fire dept is too busy to respond. I feel a better now with our little pond and a gas powered trash pump.

A retired fireman told me I can save on fire insurance if I get a hookup that they can use to take pond water if needed. Good to know, though that's not the main reason for the pond.