To burn or not to burn?

[Geo]

I have attached 2 pictures of a ravine on my south forty. It is about 12 acres in size and is used for browsing, bedding, and transition. There is some mature oaks where a fire won't do much. There is also some nice stands of young oak on a north facing slope that fire won't hurt. The majority of the growth is olive, rose, honeylocust, and cedar. In the middle of the picture the bigger trees are big honeylocust.

I have always wanted to put the flame to the whole thing. I burn my tillable ground 3/4s of the way around it. The western edge is the property line and over the fence is pastured oak forest. I could burn this with an east wind and controll a back burn on the western edge.

The cedars have grown since the pictures were taken and could be usefull for bedding cover and I do not think that a well timed fire will kill the bigger cedars. I know what happenes to the quality of browse after a fire and my question is for you guys is should I risk losing some bigger cedars and lite the whole thing up?

G

[dgallow]

From the look of the pic, there doesn't seem enough fuel to kill the bigger cedars with 'cool fire' (burning into the wind)....a hot fire (with the wind) has the most potential for damage. You could always scalp the ground around certain trees to minimize fire damage...it's extra work but...?

Is bedding cover and (or) food most limiting on your property? Only you can answer that. ;)