The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has appointed David Brooke as its new statewide prescribed fire coordinator, a role designed to expand landowner education and support for using fire as a land management tool.
David Brooke joined the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service as the statewide prescribed fire coordinator. In this role, he will expand landowner education and support for the safe use of this land management tool. (Texas A&M AgriLife) Brooke, a program coordinator in the Texas A&M Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, will engage with landowners, the Prescribed Burn Alliance of Texas and its member associations, as well as other agencies to promote safe and effective prescribed fire practices.
“The goal is to increase the number of trained practitioners, develop educational materials, and revitalize or create new prescribed burn associations to restore a culture of practice of prescribed fire in Texas,” said Brooke, based at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at San Angelo.
Restoring ecosystems and reducing wildfire threat with fire Brooke said prescribed fire, or controlled burn, is a highly planned and monitored land management tool that mimics fire’s historic role across Texas ecosystems. It helps land managers achieve specific goals such as wildfire fuel reduction, improved wildlife habitat and livestock forage, and invasive species removal.
“It’s important to understand fire is a natural process that shaped our landscape,” Brooke said. “In addition to other factors, the historic removal or suppression of fire has led to wildfire fuel buildup, degraded ecosystems and the spread of invasive vegetation.”
Brooke, who grew up implementing prescribed fire on his family’s ranch in Coryell County, said he hopes to educate as many people as possible on the responsible use of fire as a management tool and bring a wide variety of stakeholders together to implement it across the landscape safely.
“I’ve been a member of our local prescribed burn association since I was a young teenager and have seen firsthand the positive effects prescribed fire can have on our natural landscapes,” Brooke said. “I’m very excited to take on this role and help other Texans improve and protect our native ecosystems.”
David Brooke
