burning Ann Arbor parks
Last summer I was a Burn Crew volunteer for the Prescribed Ecological Burn Program of Ann Arbor’s Natural Area Preservation.
As a Burn Crew volunteer, you learn all sorts of nerdy stuff about weather and how fire can be controlled and impress your friends with your knowledge of arcane fire lore; you don important-looking yellow suits equipped with powerful water guns attached to a watertank backpack; you feel all commando as you talk to other Crew members on walkie-talkies while trudging through a forest; you set fire to meadows and leaf litter and old punky logs with cool drip-torches; and you meet the staff of NAP’s Burn Crews and the other regular volunteers, who are really a fun bunch to work with.
I helped set fire to my favorite local parks to protect them from invasive species and keep them looking handsome. If you’ll be in town this Summer and you might be interested in volunteering, or you just want to know more about controlled burning and our local parks, check out the events listed below.
March 7, Wednesday
Public Meeting - Prescribed Ecological Burn Program
7:30 to 9:00 pm
Leslie Science Center Nature House - 1831 Traver Road, Ann Arbor
Fire is used as a restoration tool in some of Ann Arbor’s natural areas. This meeting will provide information and an opportunity for discussion about the Prescribed Ecological Burn Program conducted by Natural Area Preservation. Burns will be conducted in City Parks throughout the spring and fall.
March 8, Thursday
Prescribed Burn Crew Training
12:00 noon to 5:00 pm
Leslie Science Center Nature House - 1831 Traver Road, Ann Arbor
This is the required yearly training session for all new volunteers interested in assisting with the prescribed burns held this spring and fall. Burns take place Monday through Friday sometime between 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm. Pre-registration is required by March 2, as enrollment is limited. Please call the NAP office at 734.996.3266 to register or for more information.
To learn more about NAP volunteer opportunities, call (734) 996-3266 to speak with the Outreach Coordinators or to listen to their 24-hour stewardship events “hotline.”
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
no comment.
February 22nd, 2007 at 3:42 pm
hmm. i sure can pick ‘em.
February 24th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Ya’ll laugh now, but when global warming and ecological calamity leads national governments around the world to consolidate power under the banner of ecofascism I will be happy to have my Yellow-Suit-Wearing prescribed burn warrior, with his water cannon in hand, standing at my side, fighting the good fight for Justice, Freedom, and Environmental Sustainability.
Although, I do have to say, Keeping a park looking ‘handsome’ is a form of eco-speak that I don’t know that i am ready to use in any old public forum. But perhaps it will catch on.
March 5th, 2007 at 11:36 am
All kidding aside, I honestly do appreciate the exceptional creatures who are willing to get out of their house, and their car, to preserve the environment.
(but in case you are NOT willing to get out of your car to do shit, there are options, as per this email I just received….hmmmm…..they could have said “bike” or “green vehicle” or something…..)
HRWC needs people to check the remaining natural areas in our watershed by merely driving by them This is part of our Bioreserve Project, to map locations with the potential for ecologically valuable natural areas.
The current stage of our survey is a basic level of “ground truthing” and it is very easy. You simply drive slowly around the area and write down your observations about whether the area has been cleared or developed, whether there are signs that it will be sold, and what it looks like in terms of forest, scrubby growth, cleared, recently or currently farmed, wetlands, creek etc. If there are roads that allow a closer look we drive on those as well.
It is both easier and more fun to have a partner. If you don’t know someone to go with you, we can find someone who has volunteered with us on other projects.
So far people have looked 470 out of 1,720 natural areas. So, we have 1,250 locations to check before the leaves come out, when we will not be able to see them from the road. Please consider helping with this if any of the areas listed below [deleted for space, check the website.] are areas you could drive to.
Please contact Kris at 734/769-5123 x16 or kolsson@hrwc.org if you are interested. Also check out the volunteer web site at www.hrwc.org/bioreserve.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
As long as we’re criticizing eco-speak: “handsomeness” is more accurate than “preservation”. The environment is not something humans can “preserve” or “save”. Some sort of environment will be there for the cockroaches and other species even if our own goes extinct. What we can do is alter it to some extent, make it more or less hospitable to human or nonhuman habitation. That includes making it prettier or uglier. In the case of NAP, the burning of Ann Arbor parks happens to accomplish both making the parks prettier and more ‘parky’ and making the ecosystem healthier and more resilient, etc. What they’re “preserving” is the historical character of Ann Arbor’s open spaces, which were periodically burned for centuries by the area’s previous inhabitants.
March 5th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
nothing better than parky parks.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
I saw the crew burning huron parkway prairie today (4/20). I was tickled. I am restoring my back yard, 3/4 arce, to presettlement vegetation. The maps say it was oak barrens. I cleared the Honeysuckle, buckthorn, multi-flora rose, knapweed, canada thistle, blah blah blah. Planted native trees and shrubs on the perimeter and have started to spray R/U on the weeds for a planting of warm season grasses next year. Wish me luck!
April 20th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Thanks for sharing, Dugal. What I want to know is: where did you get a map that says your property was oak barrens pre-genocide, er, settlement? (Sorry, Sunday is Earth Day and I can’t stop thinking of Europeans as the ultimate invasive species. It’s interesting, the language of environmental preservationism. But I digress…) Anyway, that’s kind of cool about the map. Good luck with your backyard.
April 25th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Here it is. Although the latest gossip is that things started changing WAY before 1820. Did you see the latest Nat Geo? Earthworms are invasive!
http://web4.msue.msu.edu/mnfi/data/veg1800/livingston.pdf