Fire Shaped Our Native Landscape
As regular readers of this blog are undoubtedly aware, our prairies, wetlands and woodlands are “fire-adapted”: they need regular fire to persist. For thousands of years, fire repeatedly acted as nature’s great refresher.
Periodic lightning strikes and cultural fire set intentionally by Native Americans frequently set the landscape ablaze. Fire removed dry leaves and stalks of previous years, releasing nutrients and opening space for short-statured plants to thrive and new seeds to germinate. And the black ash it left behind captured the sun’s heat, lengthening growing seasons. Fire took care of all that.
But our landscape is much different now. In most natural areas in Oakland Township, fire no longer provides the regular, natural landscape regeneration that it once did. Over many years both introduced and native trees and shrubs crept into once open habitats, casting deep shade that deprived native, sun-loving wildflowers and grasses of sunlight. Our prairies and woodlands became buried under dense tangles of invasive plants brought here by us humans, often unwittingly and with the best intentions, but with dire consequences for native habitat. Our human landscape has fragmented the natural landscape into ever smaller pieces.
in the Wet Prairie woodland in 2020
Prescribed Fire: A Great Rx for Healthy Habitats in Our Parks
Fire can still work to rejuvenate our parks and natural areas. We notice clues of once-thriving, fire-dependent prairies, savannas, oak woodlands, and wetlands in our parks. Professionals like our Natural Areas Stewardship Manager, Dr. Ben VanderWeide, develop goals for these special natural areas. If fire will help achieve those goals, he can write a “prescription” outlining why and how fire will be used to that end. If the goal is to boost plant diversity, fire could be used to remove thatch and leaf litter before spreading a native seed mix.
Of course, prescribed burns must be carefully controlled to protect our homes, our schools, our human communities. Prescribed fire managers carefully plan each prescribed burn so that it stays within the designated burn unit. Ben waits for a day when the wind, humidity, and other weather conditions will help disperse smoke, keep the fire contained, and accomplish habitat restoration objectives. The fire plans take advantage of existing firebreaks like water or paths, and created breaks where stewardship staff mow, blow leaves, or somehow remove fuel so that fire cannot spread.
Before the burn begins, contract crews or our stewardship team’s prescribed fire crew check the burn breaks around the outside of the “burn unit,” and areas that they don’t want to catch on fire within the unit. They ignite the fire strategically, methodically by dripping flame from a special tool called a “drip torch.” They patrol the edge of the burn unit with water tank backpacks. Once the fire subsides, they carefully patrol the whole area, looking for telltale embers or smoke that still need to be extinguished.
Native wildflowers, grasses and sedges in our prairies and woodlands are fire-adapted, keeping reserve growing points below ground so that they can regrow quickly after a fire. And many native trees develop thick bark which may scorch but doesn’t catch fire easily with the low flame of prescribed burns.
Only part of any park is burned at a time so that wildlife can find their way to safety when they sense the smoke. Most burns are done early in spring or late fall when hibernators are safely underground.
An Amazing Series of Prescribed Burns this March!
The weather in March was perfect for holding a series of prescribed burns in Oakland Township’s Parks. The weather provided predictable winds that made it easier to manage the direction of the smoke. Rain had moistened the soil and large dead logs, but last year’s leaves, grasses and stems were dry enough to burn. So our stewardship crew and volunteers took full advantage of these ideal conditions!
Ten parks and natural areas received nature’s prescription this March, a productive month! Three burns were performed by professional fire contractors and seven by our local, trained volunteers who arrived to work day after day. (Thank you hard-working fire crews!) Here’s the list of the March burns and then a slideshow from several of the parks. The “C” after a park name indicates a contractor burn, and a “S” is one done by our stewardship burn crew, which includes both staff and volunteers.
- 3/10 Draper Twin Lake Park (C)
- 3/12 Paint Creek Trail – Paint Creek Heritage Area Wet Prairie & Gallagher Rd Art Project Prairie (S)
- 3/13 Charles Ilsley Park (C)
- 3/14 Paint Creek Trail – Nicholson Prairie & Kamin Easement (S)
- 3/18 Gallagher Creek Park and Bear Creek Nature Park (S)
- 3/25 Bear Creek Nature Park (S)
- 3/26 Lost Lake Nature Park (S)
- 3/27 Fox Nature Preserve (C)
A beautiful, thorough burn by stewardship staff and volunteers at the Wet Prairie on the Paint Creek Trail. The unburned area contains unusual/rare plants and acts as a refuge for wildlife during the fire. 
Volunteers on the stewardship burn crew spread fire at the Nicholson Prairie along the Paint Creek Trail south of Silver Bell Road. 
At Draper Twin Lake Park, the burn unit included a small prairie fen remnant, sedge meadow, oak woodland, and upland fields. 
A prescribed burn refreshed a prairie and oak woodland remnant called the Kamin Easement along the Paint Creek Trail. 
At the native plant landscaping and nearby prairie planting at Gallagher Creek Park, paths provided firebreaks. 
The Walnut Lane at Bear Creek Nature Park served as a firebreak between two prairies. 
Paths made excellent firebreaks and an interesting design during and after the burn at Charles Ilsley Park. 
Ant hills appear in burned areas after every burn at Charles Ilsley Park. Don’t worry! The ants aren’t harmed by the burns. They just go further underground as they have for centuries. 
Fire refreshed Charles Isley Park’s woodlands as well.
Case Study: A Prescribed Burn at Fox Nature Preserve from Start to Finish
On March 27, I was able to watch from a distance as the professional crew conducted a great burn at Fox Nature Preserve. Ben and the contractor from PlantWise had carefully planned this burn with the wind in mind – and it cooperated beautifully! A gentle wind came from the south-southwest, allowing the smoke to flow to the east as it gusted, and then the smoke rose directly upward and dispersed as the wind calmed. That kept most smoke from reaching either the nearby homes to the south or the school to the north. And after the burn, it began to rain, helping quench any stray embers! Wow. Now that’s a super-controlled burn!
Here are a photo slideshow and a couple of videos that start about five to ten minutes after ignition and end about forty minutes later. Because I’m not fire-trained, I couldn’t film within or even near the forest during the fire, so my photos of the fire and its amazing smoke trail were taken at a distance.
Prescribed fire at Fox Nature Preserve when I arrived, about ten minutes after ignition 
The fire moved steadily west as the smoke blew east. 
Smoke rising and dispersing as the gentle wind calmed for a moment. 
A crew member drips fire from a drip torch to create a firebreak along the edge of the woodland. 
Low fire at its feet might have scorched this tree, but it didn’t catch fire. 
Smoke began to move into the forest, but the trees did not catch fire. 
A crew member patrolling along the fire line in an Argo (multi-terrain vehicle).
In this short video, watch how quickly the smoke moved to the east, away from the north/south areas where residences and a school are located – and how it moves up and begins to disperse.
As the breeze died down, the smoke did something even more impressive. It flowed straight upward and began to disperse. Follow the smoke upward as it smudges over the sun and keeps flowing upward, thinning as it goes. Such a perfect burn!
The Aftermath Looks Like a Disaster – But It’s Not!
As the fire died out, Ben and the contract crew carefully inspected the whole area, putting out any embers and investigating any wisps of smoke. They crisscrossed the park on foot and in an assortment of vehicles.
The forest looks desolate in the photo below, doesn’t it? But in reality, the black ash is really valuable fertilizer from burned vegetation now spread across the forest floor. Rain will see that the nutrients taken up by those plants wash back into the soil to nourish the long, sturdy roots of the native plants, which have experienced fires for thousands of years. And the burn will discourage non-native plants, most of which are not adapted to fire.
Now We Wait…
The most fascinating part of the March burns will be seeing what comes up after the fire! In the past, a few native wildflowers on the forest floor still struggled up from the heavy layer of leaf litter; perhaps more of them will emerge now. If we’re lucky, a greater variety of woodland species that have waited underground in the seed bank for many decades will surface again. But whatever happens, we will have begun the process of providing the forest with periodic fire, nature’s prescription for a healthy, natural woodland or prairie.
I’m excited about seeing which wildflowers and sedges emerge at Fox Nature Preserve in the next six months. I’ll try to bring you what I find as spring moves into summer. But even better, consider visiting the parks refreshed by fire this summer yourself! It’s heartening to see nature transforming fire, smoke and black ash into color and life.