This Burn is for the Birds

By the time you read this the fires will have long been put-out.  So no worries.

It has been a few years since the tall-grass prairie acres out behind the house have been reinvigorated. For more than a year this spring's prescribed burn has been on the list of management practices.

While most individuals might be put-off by setting something afire - prescribed burning is an accepted and ecologically sound mechanism of improving wildlife habitat.  It maintains wet prairies that provide nesting areas for non-game and game birds.  

Man’s application of fire is recognized as a suitable surrogate for the forces of nature that throughout millennia have maintained native habitat.  Native Americans used fire to both sustain and manipulate their ancestral hunting grounds.  Fire acts to reduce the intrusion of trees and shrubs that shade-out warm-season grasses and forbs.  Following a burn the blackened earth is a nutrient-rich stockpile of charred plant remains that quickly absorb the spring sunlight.  These warming soils are receptive to the germination of dormant seeds and the growth of established native plants with root networks deep underground.   

It is all good.  

The following photos were from this year’s prescribed burn – taken this week. 

Raising a toast to keeping nature in balance.

Back burn - against the wind...

click on images to enlarge

Head fire - with the wind...

Scorched earth....

You can learn more about this sound, widely-accepted and scientific management practice here.

One of the ever-patient trail cameras caught some of the action.

EDIT TO ADD:

An ATV equipped for firefighting..

And an operator with a drip torch preparing to light the head fire....