With snow calf-deep and near zero temperatures, my forays into the parks have been a bit limited of late.

Luckily, though, our township stewardship crew, led by Dr. Ben VanderWeide, braved the cold and took another step in restoring the Wet Prairie along the Paint Creek Trail. I thought I’d take a minute to quickly share the transformation continuing in that special natural area of Oakland Township.

I shared earlier the exciting unveiling of the original bed of Paint Creek, hidden for decades beneath invasive shrubs and vines. A dense jungle of aggressive, non-native plants had taken over the area when the creek bed was moved to accommodate the coming of the railroad in the 1870’s. The restoration work at the Wet Prairie couldn’t be done with heavy machinery because of the fragile, moist landscape of the forest. So Ben and the crew worked with chain saws and brush cutters for weeks, removing invasive plants and carefully arranging the jumble of branches, trunks and vines into tall piles. The 8-10 foot stacks were systematically located beneath holes in the tree canopy to prevent damaging mature trees.

In mid-February, I arrived at the scene and marveled at the site as multiple bonfires had been lit around the forest area, each on a bed of snow. It was a perfect day for controlled pile burning; the sky was blue and the wind barely moving so that the smoke would rise and disperse rather than floating away to disturb nearby residents. For a few minutes, I got close to the merry blazing of some of the fires that had been burning for an hour or so before I arrived. Their heat had definitely taken the bitter edge off a cold day in that work area. Ben told me with a laugh that a couple of crew members had provided hot dogs for lunch the day they burned at Bear Creek Nature Park and a stewardship weeny-roast ensued!

I then scrambled up the ridge overlooking the forest to see what work was left to be done, and to avoid interfering with the fire work or the safety precautions taken by the crew. In the photo below, you can see multiple stacks of wood still waiting to be lit, and one just beginning to smoke along the former path of Paint Creek. It can take a day or two for the embers of these fires to cool completely, which makes winter a great time to burn brush piles.

In the photo below, Ben and another crew member in their fire gear are just beginning to use a propane torch to set a pile ablaze. Smoke began pouring from the top as the fire crackled within the stack.

Once all the fires are completed, the next step in the restoration of this area of the Wet Prairie will take place in the spring when Ben will survey the area to see if the increased sunlight and rain reaching the forest floor have encouraged a flush of native plants. Once he knows which patches of the forest are producing native wildflowers, grasses and trees, he and the crew can carefully treat the sprouts of the invasive plants that will be trying to make a comeback.

I’ll keep you posted on this restoration project as the year moves on. Can’t wait ’til spring!