Eco 112 Homework 5. This homework is optional. If you do it, your grade will be based on 5 assignments. If you choose not to do it, your grade will be based on the four already assigned. Read and provide an economic analysis of the following article. Explain why or why not. Your analysis must be typed, double spaced, free of grammatical and typographical errors, and no more than ONE page of text. (Include figures on a separate page)
Kansas Ranchers Resist Pasture-Burning Limits , Kansas City Star, The (MO), Apr 16, 2004
Apr. 16--On the Kansas prairie in April, the pungent odor of smoke marks an ancient rite of spring -- ranchers burning millions of acres of pastureland. But the Flint Hills ritual is now being questioned because of air pollution in Kansas City.
Last year winds carried smoke from the burning prairies to Kansas City and caused air quality monitors to exceed federal ozone standards two days in a row, state and federal officials said. Because of that, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued recommendations last month to restrict the burning of pastures to control weeds. So far, those recommendations have sparked only anger and disbelief.
Several ranchers described the guidelines as ridiculous and said they planned to ignore them. They said ranchers would be financially devastated because the recommendations would sharply reduce the quality of beef they produce. "I saw them and I thought it was a joke," said Terri Lewis, whose husband manages several thousand acres of prairie in the Flint Hills. "When the winds are in the right direction, you've got to burn."
The state's recommendations ask ranchers:
To begin burning by Feb. 1 so they can spread the burn over a longer period. Normally ranchers begin in late March or early April. Burning is sometimes finished by mid-April but may take until late April this year. To burn only 160 acres at a time instead of up to thousands of acres.
Last year ranchers had to burn during a compressed period because of weather and wind changes, officials said. That caused large amounts of smoke and air pollutants to be trapped in the atmosphere and then carried to Kansas City. It was the first time that the air monitors had been set off in April in Kansas City. Usually ozone levels don't soar until summer.
Ranchers say the recommendations will never work if they limit burning to 160 acres at a time. The job can't be done that slowly, they say, and besides, fires don't burn themselves out after 160 acres.
They also argue that to begin burning in February would be useless because the weeds and saplings that invade the prairie would still be dormant and would not be killed by burning. If those plants are not killed, they will decrease the quality of grass during the grazing season.
Burning in April means cattle put on more pounds of beef more quickly, ranchers said. In addition, burning off weeds in February could cause soil erosion, because rain and melted snow would run off rather than seep into the soil, said Mike Holder, Chase County extension agent.
"If this were to become the law of the land, it will reduce the ranchers' profitability," said Clenton Owensby, professor of range management at Kansas State University. He spent this week burning about 3,000 acres of prairie, some owned by him and rest by the school.
"The Kansas rancher is on an extremely low profit margin," Owensby said. "Pasture burning has been going on for hundreds of years, and I don't think you are going to get them to stop," Davis said.