Participating in a planned burn
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EmailPlanned or prescribed burns can provide wildlife habitat benefits, such as combatting invasive species and assisting in habitat restoration.
In November 2023, I put my name and phone number on a sign-up sheet to participate in a prescribed burn on a volunteer’s property located in northern Oakland County. I felt a tiny thrill when I received the message in April 2024 that the weather conditions were good for the burn that Sunday. I was excited to confirm that I would be there.
Why was I so enthusiastic? Because it was an opportunity to be involved in and learn more about an important prairie restoration management tool that I had participated in once before when I lived on Sanibel Island in South Florida over 20 years ago. The effects of the Sanibel Island burn were dramatic – the savannah that had been burned was rejuvenated a couple of short months later into a lush landscape, and I wanted to see if the results of a burn in a Michigan prairie were similar. My favorite way to learn is by doing, so it was the perfect way for me to spend a sunny spring afternoon.
I arrived to find two women that I knew from the fall 2023 Oakland County cohort of the Michigan State University Extension Conservation Stewards Program, along with the property owner Jake, his father and mother. Jake and his father were also alumni of the Conservation Stewards Program, where they had first learned about planned or prescribed burns.
The weather was perfect with very little wind and the group was ready to start burning. Jake had previously submitted his burn plan to the local fire department and began to explain that a wide path around the prairie perimeter had been watered to inhibit the fire from spreading outside the area. We were handed rakes and began to remove the dead plant material — potential fire fuel — away from the wet path back into the burn area to provide more of a buffer.
Valuable trees within the burn area were also protected with a surrounding wide swath where dead vegetation was removed and then wetted down. Once things were in order, Jake and his dad began lighting the west end of the prairie with safety blowtorches, and the burn slowly progressed to the east. The entire process took about 2 hours to burn the approximately 5-acre prairie.
Why would anyone burn their property? According to the Michigan Prescribed Fire Council publication, Prescribed Fire in Michigan – Best Management Practices, “Land managers have come to understand the ecological outcomes of burning, particularly increases in biological
diversity. Prescribed burning is often chosen as an extensive management tool because it accomplishes many ecological objectives, and its application cost is usually low compared with other tools available.”
And sure enough, in early summer, the burned prairie on Jake’s property was transformed with tall, lush grasses and native wildflowers. Jake happily sent me an email with pictures stating that, “Overall, the burns continue to boost the diversity of these sites and help the native plants gain a competitive edge.”
I extremely enjoyed the experience of working out in the sun with others with the goal of increasing diversity of a small piece of land. Best of all, it worked!
