Prairie Botanist

Even though snow is coming tonight, I think today was probably the end for dormant-ish spring burning this year (I’m being liberal and forgiving, the door started closing two weeks ago). I was flat-footed, but I started tracking good burn days on 2/12, and we’ve had 20 between then and now, at least if you aren’t subject to a stupid 9 or 10mph max wind ordinance. The wood betony and bloodroot shoots are about an inch emerged. Prairie dropseed is elongating. Mayapple is just breaking the surface. Round-lobed hepatica is starting to flower. Things will be paused through the snow, then rain, then cool of the next several to ten days, but after that we will emerge into spring and continued phenological advance. I won’t be helping with any more burns unless they are in low-diversity prairie plantings or cool-season grass dominated old fields being prepped for interseeding or simply being maintained as open. The solubrious burn season for diverse/remnant prairie/savanna/woods is at its end, and that should come as no suprise after the warmest winter yet in our meteorological record. If missed, I’d say wait till fall.

The training burn we coordinated yesterday was wonderful. Folks should understand that on a sunny March day, if you burn in the open and it’s in the upper 20s to low 30s at start time, solar radiation wins the day, and nothing will freeze up! Thanks physics!

Outside of some areas that got a little more snow last week, it’s prime early spring burn conditions in much of southern Wisconsin today, and perhaps a few of the next several. Actually, we had good burn days before that snow too. It’s nice to see one burn planned for today. This should minimize unnecessary impacts to desirable native flora and fauna. Hopefully more will hop to it, because green-up is likely to be early this year.

The above is from the WDNR Fire Management Dashboard presribed fire page (https://dnrmaps.wi.gov/WAB/Prescribed_Fire/)