Prescribed burn rejuvenates native species

CULLOM, Ill. — The “red buffalo” played a critical role in maintaining prairie ecosystems for many millennia and the practice continues.

Fire, the Native American’s “red buffalo,” was used to control the encroachment of woody plants and litter that stifled the growth of more nutritious forage such as prairie grass for bison and other wildlife.

Controlled burns are still used today to stimulate the growth of native prairie species, improving their vigor and resilience.

A “prescribed burn” was recently conducted by The Wetlands Initiative at a Smart Wetland, located between Cullom and Saunemin.

The constructed wetland, part of Fulton Farms, was installed in August 2018 and includes a 1.1-acre wetland treatment area and an adjacent 3.4-acre buffer of pollinator habitat. The wetland treats field tile water from about 73 acres of row cropland.

The system is designed to intercept the tile main from the field and construct the wetland that intercepts the tile water before it is discharged into Five Mile Creek.

Wetlands are able to remove nitrogen through a combination of physical, natural chemicals and biological processes. These naturally occurring processes adsorb or absorb, transform, sequester and remove the nutrients and other chemicals as water slowly flows through the wetland.

Justin Seibert, Sue and Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge site manager in Hennepin, for The Wetlands Initiative, supervised the controlled burn on the Fulton land.

“Part of my duties is also managing the sites of the Smart Wetlands. Mostly prairie grass and native plants have been planted since the beginning of this project,” Seibert said.

“We’re burning this to rejuvenate the plant population and to kill a lot of woody plants. Basically, you’re just setting it back, burning up a lot of the thatch that’s covering the sunlight for other plants to grow.

“Also, certain invasive species do not like fire, but the prairie plants are adapted to fire so it basically gives them a boost.”

The rule of thumb is to conduct a prescribed burn every three years, depending on populations of woody plants and other invasive species.

Planning

Wind speed and direction, along with moisture, were among the considerations when planning a prescribed burn.

“We don’t have the perfect conditions for this today, but it should burn pretty decent. There’s quite a bit of water inside the wetland, so the wetland itself might not burn the greatest,” Seibert said.

“On the west side of this unit there’s a lot of corn stubble. You don’t want the wind blowing the fire into corn stubble so it could light off and rip across the field because then you’d have to call the fire department.

“We’ll make a ring around the area that we’re going to burn. We start on the downwind side of the unit and then start running a backing fire into the burn unit and you put down the fire that’s going outside of the unit. That creates a black line around the unit so it traps the fire within.”

The burn is ignited using a drip torch containing a mix of gasoline and diesel fuel. Crew members wearing protective gear use various hand tools such as shovels, fire rakes, fire brooms and swatters to control the fire. A water tank was also on standby if needed.

A major piece of the endeavor is to obtain the permits to do a legal prescribed burn and then monitor conditions and wind.

Signs were also placed along roads around the section noting a prescribed burn was being conducted.

Promotes Landscape Diversity

“Prescribed burns reduce thatch and recycles nutrients, stimulates forbs and (herbaceous plant community) grasses, suppresses fire-tolerant woody species, increases biodiversity and improves wildlife habitat,” Zach Stephenson, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever senior farm bill biologist in north-central Illinois, said in a webinar leading up to the burn.

“It creates bare ground by removing the thatch for things to grow through and the native legumes and species that we want to come up for habitat for food for forage. Fire is good to promote diversity on the landscape.”

“The buffer for this wetland will be interseeded. A good rule of thumb is you need at least 50% bare ground if you’re going to do a broadcast seeding. So, prescribed fire is a great tool to get you that 50% bare ground,” said Caleb Worley, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever northern prescribed fire coordinator.