The rare plants and animals of the rare ecosystem at this Illinois Nature Preserve depend for their health and ultimately their survival on frequent fire. If you want to know why, click here. The photos below tell today's story and strategy.
But this video conveys the drama. Two lines of flames are visible. The relatively low backfire flames are retreating slowly away from the photographer. The ten- to twenty-foot flames of the roaring headfire, in the distance, rapidly approach the backfire. Toward the end of the video, one person walks out into the middle, between the backfire and headfire - with a fire-dropping "drip torch," to light more and reinforce the backfire along the Kishwaukee stream.
At that point the fire was almost over. Here's how we got to there:
At 1:45 PM, volunteers Christos Economou and Eriko Kojima are waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive. Volunteer Stephen Packard, taking this photo, has just changed into a fireproof Nomex jumpsuit, and his street clothes are lying in a heap on the adjacent golf course lawn. To the right of the lawn is the down-wind corner of the tall grass ecosystem that will be burned today. Further right is a mowed firebreak.
As a "spoiler" here, to make the strategy clearer, the next photo is after the burn is completed - from the same spot as the photo above. Below you see, again, the golf course on the left and the mowed firebreak on the right. But now the grassland has been burned.
The burn started about 2 PM and ended about 4 PM. Below is the "play by play."
When Nature Preserves Commission staffer John Nelson and colleague Brad Semel arrive with two pumper vehicles, the team is complete. Two upland fire breaks (east and west sides of the area to be burned) had been previously mowed ahead of time. We're ready to go.
As we safely start the backfire, one person uses a drip torch to light short strips of fire along the edge of the mowed break. Two people hold flappers to smother the fire if it heads with the wind into the mowed break. The fourth person holds a hose from the pumper ATV which we'll use if we want to spray out fire quicker. But mostly, we keep the water in reserve. One person (from this crew of five) takes photos when they're not needed on the line, so we can explain this important work to you.
Step one of a controlled burn is a slow-moving, low-flame backfire on the downwind edge. When that's secure, we head upwind along both sides, so there will be no-remaining-fuel fire breaks on three sides before the fast-moving, high-flame headfire is lit. The backfires started with that mowed strip. The sidefires are lit along the golf course lawn to the south and the along Kishwaukee stream on the north.
A narrow stream, with dense fuel on both sides, is not much of a firebreak. But it's sufficient if a backfire is lit along its edge - and the crew watches it to make sure a spark doesn't cross the stream, until the fire has burned well back from the edge.
On the south edge, when the flames reach the golf course lawn, they just go out.
Once the back- and side-fires make wide-enough brakes, it's time for the headfire. Here, at the upwind edge, across the wetland, we have only a narrow break, raked that morning. But with plenty of water from the pumper ATV, once the fire starts moving away from the break, it's easy to control. Here, once Christos sprays out the short, narrow strip of backfire, John with the drip torch will light the next strip, and bit by manageable bit, we'll light the thatch all the way to the stream (most of the way to the brush, visible at the top of this photo).
Now, at a key time, the hose from the ATV breaks. And as John put it, "So we lost our pumper water resource. It's a good lesson, in having back-up hand tools and a team that adjusts quickly to unexpected surprises or conditions." Indeed it was.
So, for the last stretch to reach the stream, we use "flappers" and water backpacks for "easy but not quite so lazy" control - until the entire burn is contained, 360 degrees around.
When the headfire reaches the stream, with all the breaks complete, the fire can just burn and do its good for the ecosystem.
While Christos, John, Brad, and I are finishing up the headfire, Eriko, who has been keeping an eye on the downwind breaks, snaps this photo of the fire at its height:
Soon, all the fast-burning grassland fire is out. The photo below shows ...
... most of the burned Fen as well as an unburned patch, which tells another important part of the story. That's where dense brush had blotted out the original prairie and fen grassland. Within a few years it will be restored, and then will burn with the rest of the preserve.
Now, all that's left is the mop-up.
Long after the grassland fire is out, dead trees will continue to burn. This cottonwood (two trunks, one on the ground, the other partly standing) was burning merrily until John started spraying all sides of it with water. If there were no public relations concerns, the best strategy is to just let it burn up. It's utterly safe, with all fuel around it long burned up. If we put it out, we'll have to do the same every time we burn here. But many people are concerned if they see a tree on fire, so John tries to spray it out.
He sprays huge amounts of water on the smoldering parts, but every time he stops, the fire which is now burning well inside the wood starts smoking again.
Two days later, when the volunteer stewards return, what's left of the tree is still smoldering. The standing part is entirely gone.
We are here to continue our campaign against another of the remaining patches of invasive brush. After a while, as the seven of us look at the burned fen, we notice a pair of sandhill cranes busily finding food in the burned area.
We couldn't get great photos with our cellphones. But as they wandered around, finding food, these handsome creatures reminded us that out plant and animal neighbors at Kishwaukee Fen Nature Preserve do appreciate out efforts.
Thanks to the burn, this year will be a great one for the recovery of the Fen's rare fire-dependent plants and animals. We look forward to more good work and discoveries during the 2022 growing season. It's almost here.
Acknowledgements
Great credit goes to John Nelson and Brad Semel for leadership, assembling the equipment, seeing to the notifications, permits, and all. That's a lot of work. Bless their hearts, they had just a half-hour earlier completed a burn at Moraine Hills State Park, so this was their second burn that day. This effort was squeezed in because the weather prediction had just changed, making conditions very right to burn the fen, at the last minute. Filling out the crew were Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves stewards Christos Economou, Eriko Kojima, and Stephen Packard. Might you like to help next year?
Photos by Eriko Kojima and Stephen Packard. Internet close-up photo of sandhill cranes thanks to Taylor County Big Year. Thanks for proofing and edits by Eriko Kojima.
Restoration and stewardship of Kishwaukee Fen Nature Preserve thanks to the Village of Lakewood, Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves, and, mostly, the generous and inspiring volunteer stewards, the Friends of Kishwaukee Fen.
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