Article Options

Shawnee plans prescribed burning

By Codell Rodriguez, The Southern

Monday, December 31, 2007 7:20 PM CST

Someone needs to tell Smokey Bear that not all forest fires are a bad thing.

Every year the Shawnee National Forest partakes in prescribed burning to make way for flora and wildlife to flourish and to prevent further forest fires.

Chris Peterson, forest fire management officer, said staff hopes to start burning sometime in February. They usually burn in the spring and fall when most animals are dormant. Peterson said people are usually confused by the practice.

A common reaction is for people to ask, "Why are you lighting fires? Fires are bad," Peterson said.

Forest Supervisor Alan Nicholas said the process has a positive impact on the forest.

"The basis, by and large, is that it's a restorative type of action," Nicholas said.

Fire removes large amounts of brush that would normally hinder wildlife. It's also used to prepare sites for tree planting and to reduce hazardous fuel buildup under natural stands. Peterson said some trees are burned to make way for others.

"We predominantly set back maples and beeches to try and maintain oaks and hickories, because that's probably what was like back in the day," Peterson said.

In addition to oak and hickory trees being more native to the area, he said their acorns and nuts provide more food for local wildlife, making them much more valuable to the balance of the ecosystem.

Nicholas said helping endangered species of plants has been "one of the better successes" of the process. Mead's Milkweed, which is listed as a federally threatened species on the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board's Web site, has doubled in population since prescribed burning has been used.

The process of prescribed burning is more than just walking into the middle of the forest and throwing a lit match into the brush.

Peterson said each instance of prescribed burning includes more than 40 pages of information detailing the area that will be burned including safety precautions.

The precautions include a detailed layout of the area, thorough weather checks, alerting local fire departments and having about 20 fire personnel.

They also initiate a test fire first to determine the burn pattern so they can have a better idea of what will happen during the real thing.

Peterson said prescribed burning is fairly new to the Shawnee, but is a common practice, including at Coronado National Forest in Tucson, Ariz., where he used to work. But while it is new at Shawnee, he said the process has been around for some time.

"Prescribed burning is a good thing," Peterson said. "It's something that's been done back to Native American days."

codell.rodriguez@thesouthern.com

351-5804