Here's a photo of a controlled burn of prairie grass in a nature conservancy center in eastern Iowa during the last week of March. The burn was done at night when the wind was very calm. The heat from the fire helps germinate the seeds from the grass and wildflowers. Very dramatic sight.
Prairie Grass Burn
- Thread starter JackIL
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RobS
Super Member
Very cool Jack. They are going to have one in a state park near us but are discouraging on-lookers. I would have thought they'd welcome volunteers, but the workers will be fully equipped with all sorts of protective gear and they don't want "amatuers" around. Thanks for the post /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Harv
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Nice picture, Jack! Did you take it yourself?
RobertN
Super Member
For years we have been taught fire in the wild is a bad thing. But, there a lots of plants and trees that do not release thier seeds unless there is fire. It's that double edged sword thing...
RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif
RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif
The location of the burn was about 15 miles NW of Davenport, Iowa, at a nature conservancy near the Wapsipinicon River. The public was invited to witness the burn and approximately 50 people were present. The burn was conducted by DNR personnel who had fire control vehicles stationed on site. I took the photo with my digital camera set for automatic exposure operation. There was no indication of concern about the fire getting out of control since the perimeter was wetted and the wind was almost non-existant. This event is held every year.
Ingo
Member
<font color=blue>For years we have been taught fire in the wild is a bad thing.</font color=blue>
The only bad thing about a natural fire is the unnatural things it may burn.
The only bad thing about a natural fire is the unnatural things it may burn.
GlueGuy
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Nice pic Jack!
The local open space authority has been doing a similar thing on the ridge across from our place every year for the last three years (actually didn't do it last year, because of conditions).
The original intention was to try erradicating Yellow Star Thistle (YST, the scourge of the West). Very successful the first year. The first year they burned 80 acres, and only 5% of the acreage re-sprouted with YST. It was so successful, they expanded the acreage to 160 acres the second year. Third year they didn't burn because the conditions didn't meet the "prescription".
They call it a "prescribed burn", not a "controlled burn", because there's no such thing as "controlled" when it comes to burning. The term "prescription" more closely describes the process: there is a "prescribed" parameter for several metrics including wind, soil moisture, plant moisture, relative humidity, temperature, and so on. If all the parameters match the "prescription", they do the burn. If not, they don't.
The GlueGuy
The local open space authority has been doing a similar thing on the ridge across from our place every year for the last three years (actually didn't do it last year, because of conditions).
The original intention was to try erradicating Yellow Star Thistle (YST, the scourge of the West). Very successful the first year. The first year they burned 80 acres, and only 5% of the acreage re-sprouted with YST. It was so successful, they expanded the acreage to 160 acres the second year. Third year they didn't burn because the conditions didn't meet the "prescription".
They call it a "prescribed burn", not a "controlled burn", because there's no such thing as "controlled" when it comes to burning. The term "prescription" more closely describes the process: there is a "prescribed" parameter for several metrics including wind, soil moisture, plant moisture, relative humidity, temperature, and so on. If all the parameters match the "prescription", they do the burn. If not, they don't.
The GlueGuy
