We’ve finished our burns for the season. On March 12, we began by lighting along the upper edge of savanna units 8 and 10, and we then pretty much allowed the fire to burn slowly down the steep south slope goat prairie. A mostly south wind helped slow the fire’s descent through the dry grasses.

Turmoil in the Crane Prairie

We ate lunch on the lawn while the south slope burned itself out. Then we lit at the east end of the Crane Prairie, near the outhouse. Because we’ve been burning only half the preserve every year, each unit we do burn has two seasons of growth. The Crane Prairie has always been a challenge because it curves like a boomerang. Winds on one end are often the opposite of winds on the other! In addition, of course, the proximity of hundreds of acres of unburned dry marsh is always on our minds. That’s when the fire made its own weather.

Heat rises. Fast moving flames accelerate the updraft, and crosswinds spin the whole thing around. Smoke and ash and flames are drawn into this swirling beast at its base, and fire may spit from its top and sides.

Much larger wildfires have been known to form their own clouds. Water droplets mix with ash particles and rise to form pyrocumulus or firestorm clouds.

There were some tense moments as the firenado and large flames leapt from the prairie. Kathie would have stopped the burn if such a thing were possible. The swirling column of smoke only lasted for a few minutes, but three quarters of the prairie were left to burn. Here are a few more images.

On March 13, we burned the Pocket Prairie and unit 18. Then on April 6 we were finally able to get the leaves to burn in the north woods and unit 19. That burn went better than expected, and we are now beginning the search for emerging weeds.

After the burns, we scattered seeds, and are now concentrating on finding emerging garlic mustard, hedge parsley, and other problem species.

Susan’s Rule # 34

Fire favors the deeply-rooted and the thick-skinned and the species slow to fully emerge in early spring. Some plants require fire for reproduction, such as the Jack Pine, whose cones only open under intense heat. Others propel themselves early from sun-warmed beds, still others are stimulated by the fertile ash to rev up their flowering.