Strategies for Stewards: from woods to prairies : Burn at Shaw Prairie

It starts with a match - and some fuel - at 1:35 pm.

Initial cast of characters:

Three stewards - trained in prescribed fire.

Christos Economou - left - holding drip torch.

Monica Gajdel - center - also holding second drip torch.

Heather Decker - right - holding flapper.

Heather (in yellow) is today's burn boss. It's a hard job that requires knowledge, experience, and good coordination and people skills. She's got 'em - along with a crew of six additional trained fire managers. We start in an area of brushy, recovering savanna. To control the fire, we start at the downwind tip and send two crews to backfire (see Endnote 1) in opposite directions, to assure that the fire stays contained in the planned area. Todays burn will restore health and quality to two key areas of Shaw Prairie.

This is an easy burn, so Heather does a lot of training and rotation of jobs. We need more people who have this experience and ability. (Would you like to help with this important work? If so, come and volunteer and learn.) Now Eriko Kojima has the drip torch and is spreading the fire along a brushy edge. Mostly the flames just go out when they reach the end of fine fuels (especially grasses) at the edge of the brush. It would take a much drier, hotter, windier day for those thickets to explode with fire. But fire could creep out of the burn unit under oak trees, where the crispy oak leaves could carry a low fire, so the crew makes sure these backfires are all out before Eriko and her drip torch moves ahead.

We started at the north end, with a south and southwest wind. Now the fire along the brushy edge is extinguished, and the main backfire moves into the wind, toward the larger prairie.

At this point, with the backfire widening our no-fuel, burned-out strip in this direction (see smoke in distance), we can light up the middle of this precious remnant prairie.

Now with the drip torch, Molly Marz drops fire through the middle of the main area. It's now 4:34 in the afternoon. We have waited for the warmest, driest, windiest weather of the day. That's partly so the smoke will rise best and least inconvenience the neighbors. But it's also because this hotter fire will best combat the brush and facilitate best prairie growth (did you see that link to "why burn?").

4:35. And now I, the photographer, for your viewing pleasure and my own, stay put for a while. The next few photos show what happens, a few minutes apart.

4:36. The fire spreads downwind rapidly. The flames in this very high quality prairie are not high on this day of modest fire conditions. The poorer quality areas with taller grass mixed with brush had bigger fires. But in this high-quality area, the results will be most beautiful and important.

4:37. Now the fire is mostly smoke. But the flames don't have far to go.

4:38 Within a minute, the main fire is out, most of the smoke has risen into the atmosphere, and the prairie ecosystem breathes a sigh of relief. This will be a good year for the heart of Shaw Prairie.

In those five minutes, the most important work of the day was done. The very-high-quality heart of this preserve is ready to face the 2022 growing season. But there's much left to do before this blessed day is complete.

Here, we light along the footpath at the south end of today's burn.

Sometimes ... this marshy section is too wet, and Christos steps into the vegetation a few feet to find dry sedges. Sometimes ... the flames spring up a bit fast and he winces his face a few more inches away from the heat.

At 4:45:29 PM, these edge flames start to consume a tangle of brush, mostly briars and dogwood shrubs.

The flames are very hot and could build fast, but a backfire has already crept through the downwind fuel, so by 4:45:36 - seven seconds later according to the camera - it's about over.

4:46. Just smoke left.

At 5:00, three and a half hours after we started, the fire was essentially out and all but a few wisps of smoke cleared. Little flames from brush stumps, here and there, burn down and out. The crew extinguishes any that look like they'd make passers-by uncomfortable.

Today was an inspiring day for the heart of Shaw Prairie. It had not burned in many years. In the photo above, the area to the right mostly did not burn because over the years it had grown so dense with brush that no fuel of dried grasses and flowers remained. We have sowed locally gathered seed to restore those areas. This fine prairie will produce vastly more seed this year, as that's what prairies do in response to fire. More needy areas of this fine preserve will benefit from all that seed. We stewards feel psyched about this whole next growing season. Yes!

For more detail on why we burn and how we control fire, click here. (Once again I'm plugging that new burn post. Many readers of this blog know it already. But most people don't. Feel free to send it to people you think could use the info.)

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ryan London (Vice President of Conservation) and the whole team from Lake Forest Open Lands for fine leadership in this new collaboration with Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves.

This burn brought to you by:

Heather Decker - senior restoration ecologist

Christos Economou - steward

Monica Gajdel - steward

Eriko Kojima - steward

Kevin Kerrigan - restoration ecologist

Molly Marz - restoration technician

Interested in Burning and Stewardship?

We volunteer stewards always welcome new colleagues. Find out more details on Shaw, burns, and what you might help with at:

https://woodsandprairie.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-diversity-and-promise-of-shaw-woods.html

https://woodsandprairie.blogspot.com/2021/11/anatomy-of-new-community.html

https://woodsandprairie.blogspot.com/2022/03/controlled-burn-at-kishwaukee-fen-march.html