Today, the Switzer and Morgan families, with the help of a regular crew of friends and neighbors, conduct small controlled burns on spring evenings when the humidity is high, and the wind is low. After a burn, the prairie comes alive with species adapted to fire. No longer hidden by dense vegetation, sandy tunnels dug by pocket gophers dot the landscape. Within days, the blackened earth quickly sprouts new life. Black turns to green, as young cool-season grasses and flower shoots push through the nutrient-rich soil. Once the grasses and sedges have had the opportunity to grow deep roots and stabilize the sand dunes, cattle will return to graze the pasture.