Time to Burn

Time to Burn

Fire prairie

The ideal time to burn a prairie or restored prairie is between now and April 1.  I helped the the burn pictured below. Conditions were drier than I expected and the fire burned hot for the most part. I have shared safety rules in the past. a good burn boss and burn crew are important.

Passing of the seasons.

Passing of the seasons.

prairie scenic

A late summer view of Route 66 Weigh Station Prairie North of Litchfield.  The ditch area through the middle is healing better than expected.  Laborious and costly teasel control seems to have been effective.  This would look better if we had been able to burn this spring.

Up Hill Prairie Fire

Up Hill Prairie Fire

conservation prairie

Yesterday we burned a restored prairie on a hillside.  you can see from the photo below that the flames are going high in the air and the fire is moving fast.  Uphill fires make their own wind, so when burning a hillside you need to be prepared.  We actually lit a backfire at the top of the hill first.  It was a really good burn.

Prairie Burn

Prairie Burn

Fire prairie

Today was a burn day at Bremer Sanctuary in Hillsboro.  A group of volunteers burned the bigger prairies at Bremer today.  Fire is used a management tool to maintain restored and native prairies.