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Prescribed Burns – Woods and Prairie

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We completed our first prescribed burn in our woods and prairie this year! We spent several days preparing for this by clearing trees that fell during the winter. We used a backpack blower to clear around snags, trees, and the 2 brush piles we’re keeping for habitat purposes. We also mowed and blew a firebreak between our property and the neighboring property.

We use fire in combination with other management tools. Jim and will only a portion (maybe 30%) of the prairie and woodland areas for each burn. This provides refugia, ensuring overwintering insects and other mammals are not killed. This is especially important for those invertebrates depending on a particular species for survival. We value the insects and critters living on the land and want to be good stewards on their behalf. It’s why we do this, right?

Fire moving up the hill in our woods
Fire moving up the hill in our woods

Burning 5 acres of our 60 acres.
We are burning 5 acres here. We have about 25 acres of the same habitat that isn’t being burned. We plan for refugia.