2007 Flint Hills burn...

Once again, here are some of April's images from the Flint Hills area. The 2007 burn was below average from a photographic perspective. First, the wet early April impeaded the burns. Second, the record cold of early April farther hampered efforts. Third, having the third warmest March on record greened up the pastures much sooner than normal. Fourth and lastly, the extremely windy days of mid April were the final straw for many farmers. I was fortunate enough, however, to be able to capture some burning. I received a few calls from local

farmers letting me know about their burning plans. Many of them burned only a portion of their pastures, while others didn't even bother. Last year, there were a few days in which Alma looked as though it were shrouded in a fog from the smoke. At night, you could see the orange glow of the distant hills. This year, there was significantly less nighttime glowing, and there wasn't the foggy effect of many daytime fires.