From Response to Recovery: Monitoring Nebraska’s Rangelands After Wildfire

Mitch Stephenson and Dirac Twidwell

Nebraska has already experienced its largest wildfire year on record. Nearly one million acres of grazing land burned this spring, and continued drought has slowed vegetation recovery while sustaining wildfire risk into late summer.

Fire has shaped Great Plains grasslands for thousands of years. It influences plant communities and grazing patterns, recycles nutrients, and limits woody plant expansion. Yet large wildfires can also disrupt ranching operations and rural communities—particularly when they occur during severe drought and threaten livestock, infrastructure, and forage resources. Following this year’s fires, producers faced the immediate work of documenting losses, repairing infrastructure, and securing alternative feed. They must now make decisions about recovery that will unfold over years, not months.

Wildfire.UNL.edu was created to support those decisions. Developed with support from a McIntire-Stennis Capacity Grant, this first-of-its-kind resource for working grasslands integrates UNL research and Nebraska Extension expertise in one place. It combines wildfire history, satellite-based vegetation monitoring, field photo points, decision-support tools, and applied guidance for producers and land managers.

The platform draws on more than 1,300 Great Plains wildfires cataloged since 1985. Users can examine Nebraska wildfire perimeters, track vegetation before and after fire, compare current conditions with recovery following past events, and connect those patterns to management decisions. A statewide network of field photo points adds on-the-ground documentation across affected landscapes.

By connecting long-term science with current conditions and local observations, Wildfire.UNL.edu provides more than a record of where fires occurred. It helps Nebraskans understand recovery, anticipate change, and respond with better information. Learn more in the IANR Media feature.