How we Burned a Nature Preserve: details from April 8, 2023

 Burning Kishwaukee Fen Nature Preserve in Lakewood, McHenry County.

The burn itself, like most burns, was inspiring, especially at its height. But a lot more interesting is the process that makes the burn safe and effective. 

First we gather and review the plan:

That plan was prepared this time by Illinois Nature Preserves staff John Nelson. As shown on John's map, with a wind from the southwest, our first job would be to start at A and carefully complete a backfire to B. 

We study the map and divide responsibilities. 

We study the map and ask questions.

Our target, before we start, is shown above. A-B is in the foreground: a degraded, early-stage prairie restoration with not much fuel. In the background are the fens and sedge meadows, with lots of fuel. 

Today's "burn boss" John Nelson ignites the fire. On the north, our fire break is the little stream, part of the Kishwaukee River headwaters, that the site is named after. 

Next, John spreads that backfire along the upwind side of the break. So the fire burns toward the break and then goes out - or is put out by the crew. We make sure the fire doesn't cross the break and race away as a headfire. That task was made easier by the fact that we first wetted the break with water (see hose). But we still have to be keep an eye on the fire so that it doesn't find a way to sneak across. Because this backfire burns back into the wind very slowly, due to light fuel, John does two more strips. We want to make sure that the burned area is plenty wide enough that the fire will not jump it when the large flame-lengths of the head fire come this way - with the wind.  

Once the fire has consumed the fuel in a strip all the way to the green grass of the golf course, that break is complete. And yet, Amy stays on this corner to keep an eye on the backfire until the end of the burn. 

Now, as that first backfire spreads back from the east edge of the burn, we start a second backfire through heavier fuel along the bank of the creek that marks the north edge of the burn. 

At some points, where the fuel was wet and burned poorly, we made a number of strips ... until there was a complete burn wide enough to protect the other side of the creek from the headfire when it roared north. 

Some areas were more challenging, as downed trees made passage difficult.

We treated such areas with special care. 

Other areas were impossible. There was no practical way to keep the fire from jumping the creek in such a place. At this point we reminded ourselves that an important objective before the next burn would be to clear those downed invading trees away from the firebreak. But for today, with a bit more effort, we moved the break back to a deer path.

Here, with a bit of care, the backfire was kept well away from the woody, grassy tangle that could allow it to cross the creek.

This was the hardest work we had to do. But it was not all that challenging. We moved slowly. Some of the crew were relatively new to fire control, and we all learned more by doing. 

And now, we've reached point D on the plan. For a refresher, see below.

Once we've finished break C - D (through heavy fuel) and burned the little there was to burn through a bit of brush and to the golf course, we're done with most of our work.

This west break was easy and quick to burn in, because a break line through the dense fuel had been mowed and raked last fall (and because a hose reached most of it, so we could wet down patches that looked iffy). 

At this point, the headfire is lit.

Here, the fire doesn't reach the edge of the golf course, because it stops at the no-fuel area where we've been cutting the buckthorn (and collecting stray golf balls). 

In a few minutes, fire does the brush-control work that - if fire is withheld for too long - takes us days or weeks. Fire keeps the grassland healthy, and a healthy grassland resists invasion by brush. 

Then, within secure firebreaks, the flames wander around for some time, going out where areas are too wet or have little fuel, and flaming high where the fuel is dense. In the foreground here, former prairie had been covered with brush so dense that nothing else grew. This small brush had been cut and the trees girdled, so natural prairie can be restored to this important fen watershed. 

In the drone video below by David Martin, we can see fire behavior after the breaks are complete and the headfire has been lit. In this video, it's impressive how the short flames of the slow-moving backfire compare to headfire flames, which reach many times higher, burn hotter, and move faster.

At this point we noticed that one of the raised fens had entirely escaped the burn. The sedge meadow that surrounded it was wet and had little fuel, as last year we had sprayed out the invasive Reed Canary Grass that had been thick there. But it was the fens that were the priority to enrich by burning, so Ben Davies hiked back down with the drip torch and touched it off. 

Here, at the top of the high hanging fen, springs pour out of the moraine. Parts didn't burn simply because of the character of the fen. Those unburned areas we were happy to leave naturally unburned. 

At the end, we gathered for an "after action review." Was the burn as hot as we hoped? A fall burn might have been preferred. In spring wetlands tend to have a lot of standing water (with snow-melt and all), so this burn may have been less effective in deterring some weeds and top-killing some brush. Fall burns once roared across the landscape for miles. The ecosystem may be adapted to those hotter burns. But maybe the bison and elk had removed a lot of the vegetation, so the burns would have been less hot?  Today's burn certainly served the critical role of returning nutrients to the soil and providing other imperfectly-understood benefits. Burned high-quality wetlands retain their quality better when burned over the years. One certain benefit will be in the ease to controlling invasive Reed Canary Grass, without the duff obscuring new growth.  

This burn was especially smooth and quick because the team had so many effective volunteers (two Illinois staff people and nine volunteers). John Nelson expressed appreciation that Friends volunteers recruited the volunteer team, made the arrangements with local officials, prepared fire breaks, and brought most of the tools. John's responsibilities cover more than 100 sites; he can do only so much for each. Many sites go unburned, sadly. At some sites, trained, certified, expert volunteers do the entire burn without staff. Athena, Justin, and the rest of the Friends of the Plank Road Prairies would burn those prairies the next day. Conservation needs more trained burn leaders and crew across the state. Public relations is also important. The golf course was busy, and one of Amy's jobs was to talk with golfers as they came by and answer their questions. 

Honor Roll

People Deserving Recognition

For preparations: Rebeccah Hartz, Eriko Kojima, Amy Doll, and John Nelson

Burn boss for the day: John Nelson

Crew: John Nelson (Illinois Nature Preserves Commission), Patti West (Kish volunteer), Ben Davies (Boone County Conservation District and Kish volunteer), Kent Beernink (Kish Volunteer), Sadie Dainko (Kane County Forest Preserves and Kish volunteer), Rebeccah Hartz (Kish and Somme Woods volunteer), Amy Doll (Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves director and Kish volunteer), Dave Griffith (IDNR), Ellie Krall (Shaw Woods and Prairie volunteer), Athena Knisley (Plank Road Prairie volunteer), Justin Hunger (Plank Road Prairie volunteer), and drone videographer David Martin (friend of Amy).  

And from the Village of Lakewood, which owns this preserve, thanks to Jean Heckman (Village Administrator) for facilitating the many administrative details that assure understanding and avoid snafus at many levels. She has been so responsive and easy to work since the first time that Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves organized a burn here.

And The Beat Goes On!

True to form, Friends of Kishwaukee Fen had their regular work party the very next day. That was just a crew of six; some of us couldn't do two days in a row. But there was work to do.

There were 12 brush piles waiting to be burned, a process now very safe, with all the nearby fuel burned out. We did them all.

At break we snacked.

And discussed: the news of the day, all manner of happinesses for ourselves and families, and of course, the fen.

Then some of us did a bit more planning and set our next priorities.

Life is good. 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Amy Doll, Rebeccah Hartz, and Eriko Kojima for edits and proofing.

Thanks to David Martin for the drone video.

Resources

For good diagrams of how to burn (and other details), see:

https://woodsandprairie.blogspot.com/2022/03/why-fire-is-needed.html