I forwarded your question to someone who has been involved with Prairie Burns for several years in Wisconsin, and he sent this response:
That's a good question, though the consensus is that a given prairie annually sequesters far more carbon in the soils than is released during when it is burned. https://bwsr.state.mn.us/carbon-sequestration-grasslands Here's a more generic article from the Washington Post [it might be behind a paywall] https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2020/08/19/climate-change-prairie/ And a blog from someone I follow, carbon-sequestration. Periodic burning is necessary to "maintain" a prairie and encourage new growth. And if you want to know more than you need to about carbon sequestration, here's a document from the USDA, https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/fs_media/fs_document/update-considering-forestandgrassland-carbonin-landmanagement-508-61517.pdf Take a look at pages 30 and 31 for info on prairies. Forests also sequester carbon but given the slow growth of trees, when they burn it is a different story than with prairie plants. And of course clearing and burning forests to create cropland, as in the Amazon, has very detrimental affects on the climate.
In the one-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words category, this drawing is reproduced in hundreds if not thousands of articles and books on prairies. It's those roots that do all the work of carbon sequestration. The above ground portions of prairie plants are nothing like what's below.
But to specifically answer the question, I can't find definitive research. I'm sure someone's working on it, but it's complicated. It really comes down to, if you want a prairie you have to use fire.
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David Fridlund AIA
Wirt Design Group Inc.
Los Angeles CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-11-2022 04:09 PM
From: Russell Ver Ploeg
Subject: Prairie Burns
I've been communicating with a City Councilman and a private individual about their prairie burns on their properties. Does anyone know of scientific data about the carbon emissions from those burns? One analysis suggests the burn improves the prairie plantings' ability to store carbon and that somehow, eventually there's a net reduction of carbon in the air after the burn. Maybe this is a question for our friends on the ASLA side.
thanks, Russ Ver Ploeg, AIA, LEED AP
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Russell Ver Ploeg AIA
Ver Ploeg Architecture
Des Moines IA
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