Local expert helps put fire to the land -- in Ethiopia
Burning improves grasslands, nets healthier animals
By Michele Linck Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, May 17, 2007
WESTFIELD, Iowa -- Prospects for improving the health of their livestock are looking up for herders in Ethiopia.
Northwest Iowa grasslands management expert Scott Moats developed a personal interest in their progress this spring when he spent two weeks on a U.S. Forest Service-directed team training the herders in the controlled burning of their grazing range.
The pastoralists, as they're called, are hoping that putting fire on the land once again will result in its ability to support more animals and produce healthier animals. Then they could hope to export some of the meat for better prices.
After decades of very few naturally occurring fires and no controlled burns, the grass is worn out and its nutritional value is poor. The animals also suffer from ticks and parasites whose populations would be reduced by fire.
They pastoralists follow their blended herds of up to 10 animals -- cattle, sheep, camels and goats -- across the landscape each day. They make stops at community wells, taking turns according to a set schedule. Well workers use buckets to fill troughs with water for the livestock. Once nomadic, the pastoralists now return to their small village of mud-and-stick homes each night.
"It's classic, what you'd see on the National Geographic Channel," Moats said. "They had one village that was too close to the burn unit. They thought if the fire got away it would cause issues, so they moved (the huts)."
Moats is the director of stewardship for the Nature Conservancy of Iowa, resident conservationist at Broken Kettle Grasslands near Westfield and a fire specialist credentialed by the National Wildfire Coordinator Group. He was invited on the trip by the U.S. Forest Service's Africa Program.
Ethiopian agriculture extension service agents, veterinarians and scientists were part of the team and continue the work along with the U.S. Agency for International Development and nongovernmental organizations, such as Save the Children, which have full-time staff there.
30 years, no fire
The former Marxist government had outlawed burning the grasslands for the past 30 years; at least that's what the pastoralists believed. Or perhaps they were too afraid of the consequences if they somehow misinterpreted the law. Lauren Chitty of the U.S. Forest Service Africa Program in Washington, D.C., said the people wrongly thought a law banning the burning of forests applied to the grasslands. In any case, the land, people and animals suffered for it.
"Some of the older pastoralists remember burning before it was against the law and were very, very excited fire was returned to that landscape," Moats said. "They remember the animals' health and the plant vigor. The thing they emphasized most is tick-borne diseases."
Burning the grassland rids it of invasive woody plants, such as acacia, which helps get rid of ticks and reduces parasite infestations. The animals are healthier. Another big bonus of burning the land is that the new growth comes back healthier, too.
"Usually the grasses will have a high forage quality," Moats said. "It's all new growth and so the protein content is higher. Then you get a good diversity coming back, just like when we burn here. We get a wide variety of plants that come back at different times of the year, so it should increase the land's capacity."
Different here
Moats said some of the challenges of burning in Ethiopia were the same as burning in the Loess Hills. The topography is similar. But the differences were big.
Here, fire specialists use real-time spot weather reports of wind speed, humidity and computer-projected forecasts. They also have a truck filled with safety gear and can use a tractor to plow a fire break.
"When we did fire over there, we didn't have any tools," Moats said. "We were very, very, low tech, using what would be at the disposal of the pastoralists. Fire control was using tree branches with green leaves on them."
And, instead of a tractor plowing a ring around the 2,500 acres to be burned, the Ethiopians simply grazed their livestock in a circle around the unit in the days before a burn. "They'd eat it down to mineral soil," Moats said.
And the pastoralists have no high-tech weather service. The team spent a couple days taking their own weather readings for wind, temperature and relative humidity, trying to establish a pattern and make a burn plan.
Keeping in touch
Moats' visit was part of a 30-month program under the auspices of USAID. He said two weeks is not nearly enough time to fully train the pastoralists in fire management, especially the safety practices. But he probably won't get the chance to go back. He said Tim Sexton, the U.S. Forest Service leader on the trip, will likely return in September. And the Ethiopian team members still e-mail Moats once in awhile.
Northwest Iowa grasslands management expert Scott Moats developed a personal interest in their progress this spring when he spent two weeks on a U.S. Forest Service-directed team training the herders in the controlled burning of their grazing range.
The pastoralists, as they're called, are hoping that putting fire on the land once again will result in its ability to support more animals and produce healthier animals. Then they could hope to export some of the meat for better prices.
After decades of very few naturally occurring fires and no controlled burns, the grass is worn out and its nutritional value is poor. The animals also suffer from ticks and parasites whose populations would be reduced by fire.
They pastoralists follow their blended herds of up to 10 animals -- cattle, sheep, camels and goats -- across the landscape each day. They make stops at community wells, taking turns according to a set schedule. Well workers use buckets to fill troughs with water for the livestock. Once nomadic, the pastoralists now return to their small village of mud-and-stick homes each night.
"It's classic, what you'd see on the National Geographic Channel," Moats said. "They had one village that was too close to the burn unit. They thought if the fire got away it would cause issues, so they moved (the huts)."
Moats is the director of stewardship for the Nature Conservancy of Iowa, resident conservationist at Broken Kettle Grasslands near Westfield and a fire specialist credentialed by the National Wildfire Coordinator Group. He was invited on the trip by the U.S. Forest Service's Africa Program.
Ethiopian agriculture extension service agents, veterinarians and scientists were part of the team and continue the work along with the U.S. Agency for International Development and nongovernmental organizations, such as Save the Children, which have full-time staff there.
30 years, no fire
The former Marxist government had outlawed burning the grasslands for the past 30 years; at least that's what the pastoralists believed. Or perhaps they were too afraid of the consequences if they somehow misinterpreted the law. Lauren Chitty of the U.S. Forest Service Africa Program in Washington, D.C., said the people wrongly thought a law banning the burning of forests applied to the grasslands. In any case, the land, people and animals suffered for it.
"Some of the older pastoralists remember burning before it was against the law and were very, very excited fire was returned to that landscape," Moats said. "They remember the animals' health and the plant vigor. The thing they emphasized most is tick-borne diseases."
Burning the grassland rids it of invasive woody plants, such as acacia, which helps get rid of ticks and reduces parasite infestations. The animals are healthier. Another big bonus of burning the land is that the new growth comes back healthier, too.
"Usually the grasses will have a high forage quality," Moats said. "It's all new growth and so the protein content is higher. Then you get a good diversity coming back, just like when we burn here. We get a wide variety of plants that come back at different times of the year, so it should increase the land's capacity."
Different here
Moats said some of the challenges of burning in Ethiopia were the same as burning in the Loess Hills. The topography is similar. But the differences were big.
Here, fire specialists use real-time spot weather reports of wind speed, humidity and computer-projected forecasts. They also have a truck filled with safety gear and can use a tractor to plow a fire break.
"When we did fire over there, we didn't have any tools," Moats said. "We were very, very, low tech, using what would be at the disposal of the pastoralists. Fire control was using tree branches with green leaves on them."
And, instead of a tractor plowing a ring around the 2,500 acres to be burned, the Ethiopians simply grazed their livestock in a circle around the unit in the days before a burn. "They'd eat it down to mineral soil," Moats said.
And the pastoralists have no high-tech weather service. The team spent a couple days taking their own weather readings for wind, temperature and relative humidity, trying to establish a pattern and make a burn plan.
Keeping in touch
Moats' visit was part of a 30-month program under the auspices of USAID. He said two weeks is not nearly enough time to fully train the pastoralists in fire management, especially the safety practices. But he probably won't get the chance to go back. He said Tim Sexton, the U.S. Forest Service leader on the trip, will likely return in September. And the Ethiopian team members still e-mail Moats once in awhile.
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Mengistu Woube wrote on May 17, 2007 4:14 AM: