Fire and Destruction - to Rescue the Ecosystem
Illinois Beach, Saturday, December 14, 2024
We will burn a dozen or so massive piles of big bad logs, while feeding those fires and building more. It's hard work and a long walk to a normally forbidden savanna that's one of the most biodiversity-rich and beautiful places in Illinois. Sound good?
For two years now, the Illinois Beach volunteers have been tackling priorities. Crown vetch, over-dense pole trees, and more. Until recently this next challenge had seemed too great. See that savanna grove in the distance? It once was black oak savanna with rich plant and animal diversity.
Then it got invaded by Austrian pines. They had been killing biodiversity here for 130 years. For the miserable results, and the beginnings of recovery, see some of the photos below.
On November 11th, 2024, seven chain saws started the rescue. It was historic. We didn't burn the enormous wood piles that day because of conditions too hot and dry fire.
On December 14th is the next round. We'll burn those piles and more. Click here for more details on how to take part. Also, if the weather is iffy, check that site for updates.
Illinois Beach is home to more than 60 Endangered or Threatened species - and also to quite a few very destructive invasive species. We combat them with tenderness or chainsaw violence, as the species demands.
One of those killer species, Austrian pine, continues its evil even after it's dead:
On Nov. 11th, seventeen people made history. It started with a long walk through savanna, then prairie, then down the beach, then back into the savanna. Chain saws and miscellaneous equipage were piled into two vehicles. (Vehicles were restricted to the main Illinois Beach trail and then to the beach itself, where waves and wind will erase their tracks.)
Our goal this day was the vast wastes of dead invasive pines. Recognized as a threat to biodiversity for decades ... progressively degrading one of the largest, highest-quality prairie and savanna complexes in The Prairie State.
Rotting bark and wood change the soil and kill the diversity. Rare and endangered species of animals and plants vanish.
Six chain sawyers sliced the logs into pieces small enough that the strongest among us could put them into the piles. Some of us lugged smaller logs and branches. Teamwork was key.
Chainsaw heroes of the day:
Melissa Grycan, Department of Natural Resources staff
John McMartin, volunteer
Noah Hornak, volunteer
Ed Teixeira, volunteer
Julia McEvoy, volunteer
Joe Handwerker, volunteer
Allen Giedraitis, volunteer
Lugging and piling heroes of the day:
Sharon Rosenzweig, volunteer
Ashley Wold, volunteer
Zoe Raines, volunteer
Rickie Peacock, volunteer
Eriko Kojima, volunteer
Jerome McDonald, volunteer
Chris McMartin, volunteer
Kerry Swift, volunteer
Stephen Packard, volunteer
Because in part of the long walk, the stewards had scheduled an especially long day, we had lunch:
After lunch, we went back to work. Sandhill cranes called in the distance.
Nature always surprises and enchants us at these events. Now it's winter, what will surprise us this Saturday? We'll report here.
Endnote
The Illinois Nature Preserves System became a world model when launched in the 1960s. Inspiringly ambitious, it has accomplished wonders, but has been disgracefully underfunded. As pointed out above, Melissa Grycan has responsibility for more than 26,000 acres, much like her counterparts around the state. They all need more support staff as competent and fine as Melissa. They also need more contract funds. But the challenges and potentials are so great that even then biodiversity conservation will need us volunteers to do our parts of this important work, in collaboration with those important staff. Melissa had to leave halfway through the day, to supervise a burn at another site. On most of our workdays, she doesn't come at all. She's needed elsewhere and trusts expert volunteers to know what we're doing, as we've spent considerable time collaborating and planning with her and other experts at this site.
Conservation budgets are catastrophically small. The Nature Preserve System is losing whole ecosystems and the quality areas of others are shrinking, when they could be recovering and expanding. Communities of volunteers, volunteer experts, and volunteer leaders are a growing force to help meet the need, coordinated at many sites by Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves.
Other Illinois Beach Posts
The logs do not catch fire and burn during prescribed burns because prescribed burning has not been done when fire conditions were favorable enough. Prescribed burns tend not to be done during very favorable fire conditions.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if "Anonymous" knows much about the specifics of this site, but the questions they raise are significant. It's likely true that most burns today occur at milder intensity than over millions of years past. Lightning fires would spread fastest (and thus cover the most ground) in the hottest, driest, windiest conditions. Fires applied by Native Americans for various purposes were likely more varied in intensity for the past few millennia.
DeleteBurns today are limited by many factors. We need to be good neighbors to nearby businesses, institutions, and homes. Mistakes could shut down whole burn programs. Burn managers deserve great credit and thanks for their efforts to make prescribed burns as save and effective as possible. Better public understanding of the needs for burns would also help.
As for the burnability of the logs at Illinois Beach south of Dead River, they're on dry dunes that build up little thatch, and the sparse flammable vegetation decreases as you get closer to the logs because pine needles, or acid from decaying branches, or something else limits plant growth. To my eye, there's often not enough fuel to ignite the logs under any practical burn conditions.
That said, I too believe that it would be better for many sites - as burn managers get increasingly experienced and expert - to burn under more effective conditions than those often selected.
Science has shown that occasional intense fire is needed to reduce canopy cover and maintain the grasses typical in the groundlayer that characterize savanna.
Deletehttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037811270800546X
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378112711005287
Julianne Mason also did a post on the topic on the Grassland Restoration Network.
https://grasslandrestorationnetwork.org/2024/12/03/prescribed-burn-monitoring-fire-intensity-and-vegetation-community-changes/
Increasing fire intensity comes with increased risks. The surrogate has been labor intensive chainsawing and herbiciding. A method that can only be applied to a small fraction of lands needing management with the resources that are available. These are the facts. Others have the difficult decision on when they will burn and how resources should be allocated.
DeleteFire intensity effects on pre-existing woody vegetation vs. integrity of herbaceous old growth are two different matters. Increased fire intensity also has increased risks for herbaceous flora, fauna, and biological crusts. Generally, I think, we have to rely on mechanical/chemical methods to remove woody vegetation, do so in ways that maximize vs. impair recovery of herbaceous vegetation (and crusts in parts of sand savannas with sparse herbaceous vegetation) vs. try to use intense fire, which might have been something old growth herbaceous and terricolous lichen communities could recover from in 1500, but not so much in our fragmented, high N deposition, high seed dispersal from not-so-good-stuff, climate change environment.
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Dlcarterksa I’ve seen what happens to conservative sod when canopy closure occurs. The groundlayer is eliminated. The regular fires that are being conducted are what ecologists call “ineffective.” The paper, “Canopy Cover and Groundlayer Vegetation Dynamics in a Fire Managed Eastern Savanna” reports positive outcomes to herbaceous and sod forming species after more intense and repeated fire.
Delete“Mechanical/chemical methods to remove woody vegetation” are still needed. For example, to control common buckthorn, glossy buckthorn, invasive Lonicera, and aggressive native species. However, “mechanical/chemical methods” will never be able to replace the need for intense fire if fire adapted habitats are to be maintained.
I think "Anonymous" is preaching to the choir here. Unfortunately, the conditions they're looking for to conduct burns are likely red flag days when it is illegal to do so for safety reasons. As Stephen pointed out, all it takes is one bad day for one of many, many crews operating in the region and we're back to not being able to burn at all.
DeleteAs Dlcarterkas mentions, conducting prescribed fire during more intense conditions is actually quite controversial even among ecologists.
DeleteAfter an extreme fire event, it is human nature to conclude we should do more to prevent fire. This is the opposite of the findings of scientists studying savanna. After intense fire, repeated low to moderate intensity fire maintains open conditions needed for savanna ground layer vegetation. Human nature is forcing the pendulum to swing to one extreme and eventually when it does swing back it swings back hard. We tend to be reactive rather than proactive. Changing human behavior is challenging.
Congratulations on encouraging and accomplishing the removal of the non-native pines planted years ago. Illinois Beach Nature Preserve is a fine site and is being enhanced by the cutting and burning piles of the non-native pines. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations - this makes my heart so happy. Thank you so much for all you do!
ReplyDelete