Prescribed burns in the Preserve

Preserve staff, led by project manager Adam Gundlach, and the crew from Quercus Land Stewardship Services conducted prescribed burns this Sunday April 5 in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve.

Weather conditions were favorable, but because of an ever so light breeze from the lake, burns had to be restricted to a small section of the Biocore Prairie and the shore segment on Picnic Point east of Firepit #2. This section included the site of the conical mound. Preserve visitors on this beautiful Easter morning watched the process with interest.

The professionals from Quercus made the procedure of prescribed burns look easy: create a clear boundary by raking, set fire to the dry vegetation at a corner of the piece to be burned, and rapidly outline the area intended to be burned with the fire torch. Once the fire has raced through the area, leaving behinds blackened ashes and smoldering branches, extinguish remaining hotspots with sprays of water or mere boots.

Adam Gundlach, Preserve Project Leader, is supervising the burn. All photos Gisela Kutzbach