Prairie Burning

Cadence and I were just settling in on the sofa last evening to recap our busy day's events when our neighbor Paul stopped to tell us he was going to do a prairie burn. When? ...Now! He wanted to make sure our cows were secure and they wouldn't be too nervous.

Paul owns 90 acres on the south edge of our property that once belonged to our farm. He built a house and restored the entire acreage to prairie, abounding with spectacular native flowers, pheasants, wild turkeys, coyotes, deer, and butterflies.

If not burned or maintained with chemicals, trees will grow up and eventually transform the prairie into woodand. Fire is nature's method for preserving prairie, and even though it is a bit disconcerting to have a big fire set next to your trees, I am glad Paul chose fire over chemicals.

Kyle Herring (the same fellow who removed our dead maple) managed the burn. First he and his crew backburned along the tree-line.
As dramatic as the fire looks in these photos, with the smoke lit up by the flames, it definitely was very controlled. I even felt comfortable walking amid the burn with Kyle to take some photos.
After back-burning a swath along our treeline, they set the main fire on the southern boundary. With the southerly wind, the fire quickly swept across the prairie. I was concerned about the pheasants, which have just begun nesting but Kyle assured us it is early enough they will lay new eggs. We saw one pheasant fly out ahead of the flames.

Rog had been off jamming with friends. As he drove home, he could see the sky glowing from miles away. As he crested the first hill and saw that the fire's glow was by OUR house, his heart raced. He was relieved to learn it was a planned burn. Normally we get almost no traffic on our dirt road, but a steady string of cars came by to check out the fire.

Surprisingly, the animals did not seem to be concerned about the fire so close.

If we have a drought year I will rest more assured knowing that all that dry fuel has already been burned.

Here's how the prairie looked this morning. It smells like a huge, doused bonfire. Kyle says we'll be amazed--it will turn totally green in a few days. I'll try to document it through the summer on this blog.