INPS Grant For Invasives Control
Thanks to a generous $1,000 grant from the Illinois Native Plant Society, volunteers at Bremer Sanctuary are making another major effort to control one of Central Illinois' most aggressive invasives, honeysuckle.
The funds are being used to rent a John Deere skid steer loader on rubber tracks rather than tires. Equipped with a grappler bucket, Bremer volunteers will be using the machine primarily to remove honeysuckle. But in addition, because the area being cleared is the site of several old farm buildings, there is a quantity of metal, iron, timbers, concrete and bricks that have to also be collected and removed. The metal will be taken for recycling.
In the photo at the top of the page is visible some of the honeysuckle near an unused silo. Near the silo are concrete foundations of smaller structures that were removed earlier when they deteriorated.
Within the area are a number of locust trees that present, along with the metal and other debris, a threat to tires on the John Deere tractor the chapter owns. The tractor is used for mowing and often pulling a trailer that carries visitors around the sanctuary, especially seniors who have trouble walking.
Watch for a report on the clean-up in a few weeks on this website and in our newsletter.
Why Do We Do Prescribed Burns At Bremer?
Each of us grew up with Smokey the Bear’s admonishment “only you can prevent forest fires”. At one time, fire was thought to be only detrimental – never beneficial AND necessary – to healthy ecosystems. The catastrophic fires in our western states that have destroyed thousands of acres of forests and have resulted in the loss of many human lives are a result of this aversion to fire.
Historically,
fire resulted from occasional lightning strikes.
Later, Native Americans used fire as a hunting tool,
to burn vegetation around their campsites to prevent a
lightning-induced wildfire from destroying the
settlement and in warfare. Fire still is used by
indigent peoples to prepare land for farming.
Fire is now recognized as an integral part of healthy ecosystems and all ecosystems are fire-adapted. Fire reduces fuel load (dead woody vegetation and leaf litter) that, if left unchecked, results in conflagrations. Prairies are fire-dependent communities. Fire maintains prairie ecosystems by preventing the encroachment of shrubs and trees. Because their growth is triggered by underground structures, prairie grasses and wildflowers are well-adapted to withstand fire.
In forests, fire prevents fire-intolerant species (which in our area include maples and elms) from moving into drier uplands which are more likely to burn. By restricting the movement of fire intolerant species, fire prevents maples and elms from competing for nutrients and sunlight required by upland species such as oaks and hickories. The thick barks of mature hickories and oaks allow them to withstand fire.
In any ecosystem, fire releases nutrients remaining in dead vegetation into the soil providing a quick influx of nutrients for a new generation of vegetation. In turn, this nutrient boost allows the ecosystem to thrive and provide abundant food for wildlife.
Fire is used by restoration ecologists as a tool to rid an ecosystem of invasive (especially, non-native) species of vegetation such as the non-native honeysuckle that plagues Bremer. In this way, fire also encourages diversity since honeysuckle competes with native woodland wildflowers and trees for sunlight for germination and growth and for soil nutrients.
Some of your young charges might question whether prescribed fires hurt or kill wildlife. We need to keep in mind that just as native plants are adapted to deal with fire, so too are our native animals. Although some might not survive a fire, most animals that are active at the time of year (after the breeding season and prior to the start of the next one) prescribed burns are conducted do escape. Those that burrow underground will retreat into their burrows while birds fly away or take shelter in tree cavities above the fire. Other animals hide under logs and others run away from the fire. Those insects that over-wintered as eggs or larvae and were overlooked by hungry burns might not survive. In the end however, enough insects do survive to quickly repopulate the area. Since fire maintains or creates suitable habitat and encourages the growth of nutrient rich food resources, wildlife in general benefits from fire.