While we’re on this topic of what the natural system may have likely looked like……Something else that would have been different about this scenario from what we have now that we may not think much about but would have had a significant impact is the absence of the wild grazers like buffalo, elk, and sheep……These animals would have consumed or trampled down a lot of this grass vegetation that we are currently burning. You wouldn’t have had these big grass dominated stands of understory in the same manner…..It would have likely been a more patchy design of grass clumps like a checkerboard on a small scale with a more balanced amount of broadleafs and legumes as a result. If you look at some of those Texas cattle ranches that have such good quail populations I think this is a lot of the reason why…..They have the cows running on a large enough scale and behaving in a manner similar to what the wild grazers use to and it creates that intense checkerboard patchwork structure….maximizing your “squares” and potential production or output.

Also, this reduction in the fuel load would have meant that fires were likely much less intense than many of our controlled burns today in these plantation settings where we are quickly consuming massive amounts of grass fuel....not to mention the loss in soil organic matter this causes and loss in productivity from that as well. I figure these natural fires were most often the result of late summer afternoon pop up thunderstorms where lighting strikes an old tree and catches it on fire an hour or two before dark.