Controlled Burns at Nachusa Grasslands

Why We Burn

• For eons, landscape fires occurred on our planet, the dried plants and abundant planetary oxygen requiring just a spark to start a fire.
• Plants and animals evolved to not just tolerate, but also depend on these fires.
• Humans have lived with and used fire since our beginnings. In the Midwest, Native Americans set frequent landscape fires to attract game and to keep woodlands and grasslands open and easy to walk through.

• Fire would have stimulated a rich ground cover of plants that people could then harvest.
  
• The natural landscape that we all inherited is dependent on fire for its health. In our modern world, our natural areas are fragmented and need our vigorous help to set prescribed fires.
• In short, we use prescribed fire to restore and maintain the health of our prairies, woodlands, and wetlands.

Fire Crew Annual Summary Reports
    by Bill Kleiman

• Fall 2024 – Spring 2025
• ​Fall 2023 - Spring 2024
• Fall 2022 - Spring 2023
• Fall 2021 - Spring 2022
• Fall 2020 - Spring 2021
• Fall 2019 - Spring 2020
• Fall 2018 - Spring 2019
• Fall 2017 - Spring 2018
• Fall 2016 - Spring 2017
• Fall 2015 - Spring 2016
• Fall 2014 - Spring 2015
• Fall 2013 - Spring 2014
• Fall 2012 - Spring 2013
• Fall 2011 - Spring 2012
• Fall 2010 - Spring 2011
• Fall 2009 - Spring 2010

(Note that some of the links in these documents are no longer active.)

Bison and Fire

• We introduced bison to Nachusa in the fall of 2014. We have confirmed that bison do not panic at the site of fire.
• Also, in the spring of 2015, a fire in the bison unit skipped over a half–acre grazed patch, since the bison had eaten enough prairie grass that the patch had no fuel to burn.
• Patchy fires are good, offering refuge for certain insects that may be fire sensitive.

Good Fire Practices We Work on Continually

• Let the weather decide the schedule.
  
• Start early in the season and seize every good fire day to get the job done.
• Crews should be out burning whenever the weather is safe and the vegetation is ready to burn.

• Get your equipment loaded and functioning before fire season begins.
• At Nachusa, we usually start burning in late October and are ready to go again in early March.
  

• Mow fire breaks in the fall because the spring fire season is too busy.
• Make sure vehicles can drive on fire breaks for easy inspection.
  
• Keep fire breaks almost free of flammable materials.
• After mowing a prairie fire break, consider raking and perhaps baling the hay to remove potential heat sources from the break.
  

• Have a water tender to fill up pumps quickly.
• We tow 425 gallons of water with us to most fires for refilling pumps.
• We have a plethora of water sprayers that we have gathered over the years.
• Our tender also carries a lot of gear that would otherwise clutter our truck beds.
  

Fire Crew Protocols

• Empower volunteers. Our fire crews are primarily volunteers. They are treated as colleagues with the training and tools to get the job done.
• Our basic crew training includes S130, S190, and I100. Annually, we have a physical fitness test where we walk two miles with a 24-pound pack in under 30 minutes.

• Require an annual fire safety review.
  
• Do a crew briefing before and after each fire.
• Build in redundancy. Have more people than the minimum of crew.

• Pair trainees with experienced mentors.
  
• Let each line crew inspect all their line before starting the fire. This use of time will be made up, as the crew will move faster and with more confidence while igniting.
  

Controlled Burn Resources

• Perspective: A Prescription for Fire by Elizabeth Bach
• 25 Years of Fire at Nachusa Grasslands

             by Bill Kleiman

• Fire Breaks: Preparing Land for Controlled Burns by Bill Kleiman
• Friends of Nachusa Grasslands Blog: 2020 Fire Refresher

              by Dee Hudson

• Friends of Nachusa Grasslands PrairiE-Update: What We Do at Nachusa Grasslands — Fire

• TNC — Why We Work With Fire
• TNC — Maintaining Fire's Natural Role
• Illinois Prescribed Fire Council
• Illinois Fire Needs Assessment — 2016

              by Michael Saxton, Bill Kleiman,
              Jeffery Walk, and Sarah Hagen

A 14 day workshop was designed to achieve live fire operations so participants could experience leadership opportunities in wildland fires. Doing this workshop, participants learned to manage uncontrolled wildfires on the pine savannas of Deep River Forest Reserve, Belize.

UPDATED 03/2022