The importance of burning native prairies for our ecosystems

By Cameron McCauley

As we transition to the fall and the cooler season, there’s a chance you might see an occasional prescribed being conducted in your local forest preserve, on private properties or around the suburbs. Nothing to be afraid of! Ecological restoration companies use the fall and winter to conduct prescribed burns as a form of land management, and it’s one of the best things you can do to revitalize grassland prairies!

As a one-time aspiring sportswriter, I’d like to use a sports analogy for the importance of burning native prairies. The 2022 Bears went 3-14 and had the worst record in the NFL. It gave them an opportunity to start refreshing their team the next year with the number one draft pick. In the same way that a rebuilding phase gives the Bears a foundation for future success, burning will help rejuvenate prairies and promote a thriving and diverse native ecosystem. The jury is still out on the Bears, but burning prairies have a much better hit record.

Indigenous peoples would use fire to their advantage. Although lightning was known to cause fires on the prairie, native Americans would also use prescribed burns for many of the same reasons that we do today. What was initially perceived by colonists as untouched, pristine land in North America was actually the result of indigenous peoples helping to shape our land into the forests and prairies that they would witness after their arrival to the continent. Native Americans would burn for their benefit and knew that it was beneficial to ecosystems as well.

While we now see prescribed burns conducted this time of year, there’s a strategic plan for burning in the fall compared to the spring.

Fall burns help target cool season grasses and invasive plants that have already seen some growth. They are also less likely to disturb native fauna that have completed their reproductive cycles. Spring burns tend to favor native grasses by clearing the area and disadvantaging early-sprouting invasive species. But they need to be timed early enough to not disrupt early ground-nesting bird species. Restoration contractors will often alternate between spring and fall burns depending on site specifications.

We also burn to protect our pollinators. Research suggests that ground-nesting bees prefer to nest in burned patches of prairies than unburned patches. Many native prairie wildflowers also thrive after prescribed burns. A recent study showed that some Echinacea species can sync their bloom times on prairie patch that was burned, which makes it easier for flowers to reproduce and multiply seed production.

I attended the ILCA impact conference in October which had some really great, thought-provoking speakers. The roundtable discussion with Jerry Wilhelm, Roy Diblik and Neil Diboll was great to listen to. One of the questions presented was how we as an industry can be better stewards of our environment for future generations; the answer was that prescribed burns are a way that can help lead us ecologically into a better future.