The spring of my freshman year of college I saw my first Kansas Flint Hills pasture fire. Had I not been with native Kansans who explained what was going on, I would have called the fire department. I grew up in Colorado where forest fires were a huge problem and certainly nothing purposeful. However, every spring, people in the Kansas Flint Hills practice controlled pasture burning in order to allow cattle to access new, high quality grass growth.

I’ve been busy getting ready for Law School finals but I took Sunday off to help my friend Jenny’s family burn their pasture land outside of Manhattan, Kan. In the six years I’ve been in Kansas I’ve grown to look forward to seeing pastures burning and new growth every spring. However, this was the first burning I actually participated in.

They let me run the propane: 

Of course we had plenty of water to keep the fire in control:

Here you can see the fire starting to take off:

I think this makes me real Kansan now! Click here to read more about pasture burning in the Kansas Flint Hills.