{"id":400367,"date":"2026-04-15T20:40:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/400367\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T20:40:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:40:18","slug":"nothing-but-tree-skeletons-record-breaking-wildfires-devastate-us-cattle-country-us-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/400367\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Nothing but tree skeletons\u2019: record-breaking wildfires devastate US cattle country | US wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a normal year, the vast grasslands that roll across the American Great Plains would be starting to green. But at the center of the US, where most of the nation\u2019s beef producers graze their herds, this spring brought fire<\/a> instead of moisture, leaving more than a million acres black and barren.<\/p>\n

Multiple blazes raged across Nebraska<\/a>, where the records for the annual acreage burned were obliterated in a single month. The state logged the largest blaze ever recorded when the Morrill fire cascaded across more than 642,000 acres (260,000 hectares) before it was contained in March.<\/p>\n

Fire is not a stranger to this region early in the year, when precipitation<\/a> is low, grasses are dry and dormant, and strong winds howl through the open flats. While other parts of the American west face their biggest fire threats in summer and fall, grasslands are more primed to burn in the spring.<\/p>\n

In recent years, however, the risks have sharply risen, along with the size and impact of bigger blazes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a changing wildfire dynamic in this region,\u201d Dr Dirac Twidwell, a rangeland ecologist at the University of Nebraska, said, describing how a cycle of extreme conditions can create more catastrophes. Stronger summer storms seed the grasses<\/a> that cure by winter. If there\u2019s no protective snow cover, that browned vegetation ramps up fire risks \u2013 especially when the winds begin to blow.<\/p>\n

This year, those conditions converged to create the perfect storm in Nebraska. After parts of the state were pummeled with rains last summer, winter was the second warmest on record<\/a> and the fourth driest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe probability of ignition just goes through the roof,\u201d Twidwell added. \u201cThe deck has been stacked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before and after a wildfire<\/a>Satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) show grasslands in western Nebraska before and after several wildland fires spread through the area.<\/p>\n

Fueled by rising temperatures, extremes across the seasons, and land management practices, cattle country has been hammered by spring fires in recent years.<\/p>\n

In February 2024, the largest wildfire in Texas history<\/a> turned the Panhandle\u2019s picturesque hillsides into a moonscape. Local officials estimated at the time that more than 10,000 livestock deaths were linked to the disaster. The following year, Oklahoma burned through March, as dozens of conflagrations claimed hundreds of homes and four lives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The grim trend continued in March of 2026 in Nebraska<\/a>. Officials are still working to tally the devastation from a massive blaze, which moved so fast it covered more than 70 miles (110km) in the first 12 hours. The Morrill fire claimed the life of 86-year-old Rose White, a great-grandmother, as she tried to flee her home on the Nebraska prairie. It reduced parts of the Nebraska Sandhills \u2013 one of the largest temperate grasslands still intact across earth \u2013 to ash and sand.<\/p>\n

map of large wildfires that occurred in the US this year, with large yellow circles around nebraska<\/a><\/p>\n

The Morrill fire was just one of many fires that erupted in the state in recent weeks. Miles of fencing and forage are gone. Thousands of livestock were killed or severely burned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are areas where you see nothing but tree skeletons,\u201d Collin Thompson, a Nebraska rancher, said, visibly emotional as he gazed upon his lands left desolate by the roughly 130,000-acre blaze called the Cottonwood fire. Speaking in a video<\/a> produced by the Nebraska farm bureau, Thompson likened his property to a war zone. \u201cAs this fire ripped through here, it took all the grass,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s none left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drier winters, greater challenges<\/p>\n

Homer Buell, a fourth generation rancher, said he had never seen a winter quite as dry as this one. His family\u2019s land was spared the recent onslaught, but he had felt the changing conditions and worked with his community to navigate the challenges.<\/p>\n

The cattle industry\u2019s feeding operation is concentrated on the Great Plains and the fires could deal a long-term blow if grasses don\u2019t rebound quickly. In Nebraska, one of the top producers in the US and a state where cattle outnumber people 4 to 1, worries about range recovery are high. It\u2019s unlikely, according to experts, that grazing will be possible on burned lands this year.<\/p>\n

Tight-knit ranching communities stretch far beyond state lines and include many who have experienced tragedies of their own. Donated hay has come in from across the country, brought by volunteer truckers and others eager to lend a hand. But cattlemen are still pinning their hopes that good summer rains will provide relief from the dryness and start regrowth on burnt ranges.<\/p>\n

More than 40% of Nebraska had been categorized in \u201cextreme drought\u201d at the end of March, and across the High Plains, which also includes Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and the Dakotas, roughly half of the region is in \u201csevere drought\u201d. Rangelands and water supplies are being affected by \u201csignificant drought challenges\u201d in Texas and Oklahoma<\/a>, according to a federal drought status update issued on 2 April.<\/p>\n

Firefighters work on a burned area. Photograph: InciWeb\/United States Forest Service<\/p>\n

The wettest months are still ahead for the Great Plains, which sees the bulk of its precipitation in the spring and summer. If the rains fall short \u2013 or if they come too hard and heavy \u2013 affected communities may continue to struggle.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Buell said the biggest impacts of the fire could come long after the flames were extinguished. \u201cLosing that feed source for the cattle or whatever livestock they\u2019re running is a secondary effect,\u201d Buell said. \u201cThe secondary effects are just as bad and maybe worse in some ways if you happen to get the rain after,\u201d he added. \u201cNow, if we don\u2019t get rain \u2013 well, it\u2019s really a very sad and bad situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fires will happen in a grassland system<\/p>\n

Experts, though, are assured that the lands will rebound \u2013 and perhaps healthier than they were before.<\/p>\n

Long before these landscapes were dotted with ranches and farms, wildfires regularly swept across the grasslands. Fires started naturally and also were fostered by Indigenous people, which helped clear and regenerate vegetation and soils.<\/p>\n

A map showing that nearly a million acres have been burnt in recent wildfires in Nebraska<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI hate to say benefit because I understand these fires have been extremely detrimental to people,\u201d said Dr Victoria Donovan, assistant professor of forest management at the University of Florida. \u201cBut when fires burn at high intensity they can actually help to restore the grassland state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without regular fires, woody shrubs and trees have begun to encroach on the grasslands, posing problems for ranchers and native ecosystems alike. They also increase the risks of extreme fire behavior, Donovan said. \u201cThe idea that we can completely remove fire from these systems isn\u2019t really feasible,\u201d she said. \u201cFires will happen in a grassland system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twidwell agrees. He and his team of researchers have studied recovery after fires in this region and he thinks their findings could provide a silver lining for those who have been affected. There are also opportunities to change land-management practices that will help preserve grasslands as the world continues to warm. Extensive cattle grazing has changed the landscapes, along with a history of fire suppression, and both have contributed to the rising risks.<\/p>\n

National guard helicopters were used to deliver water drops on the Morrill fire. Photograph: InciWeb\/United States Forest Service<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a question of if it can recover or not,\u201d he said. \u201cBut how do you navigate given how people tend to manage these landscapes today and how can we do a better job of coexisting with this reality in the future?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a question Buell has long been asking himself and others as a local leader. He\u2019s looking to the land itself for answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those early years I looked out and didn\u2019t look down enough,\u201d he said, describing how the grasses and wildlife have since become his focus.<\/p>\n

These blazes have brought more attention to ranching and what ranchers are managing, and he hopes these lessons go with it. He now shares the work with his son, the fifth generation of Buells on the land. Most ranchers, he said, want to pass their land down \u201cand everything that resides there\u201d to the next generation. \u201cThat means managing the soil, the wildlife and the grasses.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a normal year, the vast grasslands that roll across the American Great Plains would be starting to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-400367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}