George Rumsey wrote in to explain why Chicago's parks department control-burns various areas within its prodigious domain:
The Chicago Park District uses controlled burn management to help maintain native plant communities. A controlled burn is the use of fire as a management tool in a carefully planned and controlled manner. Controlled burn management is an efficient and economical tool that reduces the amount of pesticides that otherwise may be needed to control invasive plants. Fire helps to promote species diversity by controlling invasive woody shrubs and trees. Without fire, natural areas often become thickets of shrubs or weeds with little diversity. Fire burns off dead vegetation and stimulates new plant growth by allowing sunlight to warm the dark soil, encouraging germination. Fire also enriches the soil by returning nutrients back to the soil.
Research shows that fire is a natural part of native Illinois ecosystems. These landscapes need to be burned periodically in order to stay healthy and to provide habitat for native plants and animals. All persons who conduct controlled burns are specially trained, equipped, and supervised.
---------------------
We try to do it in Nichols Park every other year. Feel better, now?
I do indeed feel so much better now. Partly, it's because I'm at peace with burning, but mostly I figure it would be the acme of ingratitude to complain after such a lovely weekend weather-wise.
The photos are courtesy of HPKCC's website, which has even more burn-stuff here.
Comments