On Tuesday, for the first time ever, a rangeland fire purposefully ate through acres of territory on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River in south San Antonio.
Biologists burned the area in the name of creating better habitat. Using a drip torch filled with a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel, a burn master carefully ignited the tall, dry vegetation on the banks of the river to destroy non-native species and help encourage the growth of desired natives.
“Native species are well-adapted to the fire and non-native species are not as well adapted,” San Antonio River Authority Mission Reach Superintendent Justin Krobot said.
“It creates more nutrients for the soil. You ultimately have better wildlife habitat and it suppresses the non-native species encroachment," Krobot said.
Krobot said the burn had been meticulously planned for months, using the services of a skilled contractor, with backup from San Antonio Fire Department personnel.
“We have a mowed buffer line. We have the fire department on site as well as numerous tanker trucks, lots of water and suppression equipment as well,” said Krobot.
“Wind direction. Wind speed. Transport winds. Humidity,” Krobot said many factors went into deciding if burn conditions were perfect.
The plan was to burn twelve acres. Krobot said they will study their results when the area comes back to life and evaluate if they will use these techniques in additional reaches of the river.
“We want to have more native species coverage. We want to have better wildlife habitat. We want to have more wildflowers and forbs, which are good for our pollinator species,” Krobot said.
They hope to see more in the way of Little Blue Stem grasses, Horsemint and other native flowers, and less woody material that would obstruct the flood channel.
In addition to the burn creating good conditions for the animals of the area, it is a good management tool for humans too, because getting rid of excess vegetation reduces the chance of an out of control range fire destroying adjacent property.