Effects of managed fire on a swale grassland in the Chihuahuan Desert

Fire is considered a critical process for limiting shrub encroachment and maintaining grassland structure and functions. Fire can be detrimental to grasses in upland settings of arid desert grasslands, but no studies have been performed in more productive swale grasslands. Monitoring of a prescribed fire treatment in a swale grassland in southern New Mexico indicated that perennial grasses had not recovered after 5 years, even with above-average rainfall. Furthermore, indicators of erosion susceptibility increased, and shrubs resprouted rapidly.