What You Need To Know About Prescribed Burns

The spring prescribed burning season is underway at the Forest Preserve District of Will County, but this restoration technique is not always fully understood by members of the public.

The role fire plays in keeping the land healthy dates back to predevelopment times. Before Europeans settled in North America, fires regularly occurred naturally due to lightning strikes, but were also started accidentally and intentionally by man. As the continent was populated and developed, fire was widely suppressed because of its inherently destructive impact to many human interests and its potentially deadly effect on human life.

Prescribed, or controlled, burning is a means of reintroducing this natural process. Many species are dependent on fire to maintain the habitat in which they live. The key growing part of most prairie plants is below ground, where the heat of the fire does not penetrate, allowing the native grasses and wildflowers to flourish once again following a fire event.

Many native trees such as oaks and hickories have evolved adaptations to protect them from fire injuries such as thick bark. There are species of evergreen trees which cannot germinate until the cones are exposed to the heat generated by fire.

Fire can be an important tool to attain specific maintenance objectives:

• It can control tree and shrub growth along the embankment of a flood control reservoir where the roots systems can threaten structural integrity.
• The disturbance created by periodic fires is important in maintaining our remnant oak/hickory forests and savannas because it prevents uncommon trees from overtaking the landscape.
• Fire encourages the better establishment of native vegetation, which slowly displaces weeds.
• Controlled burning returns nutrients to the soil.

Controlled burning requires extensive planning, training, personnel, and equipment. An open-burn permit from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency must be obtained. Adjacent landowners and emergency personnel are notified before burns. Also, smoke management is considered and weather conditions are monitored to see how they will influence smoke dispersal.

Burns are conducted from mid-October to mid-April when most vegetation and many animals are dormant.

Through training and experience, the controlled burn crews are able to anticipate problems and take remedial actions that have allowed this program to effectively manage Will County’s natural lands while maintaining public and burn participant safety for over 25 years without a single significant incident.

For more information, visit the Forest Preserve's Prescribed Burning page.