{"id":195,"date":"2017-03-14T11:55:49","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T16:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/sustainability\/?p=195"},"modified":"2017-03-14T11:55:49","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T16:55:49","slug":"uw-whitewater-nature-preserve-gets-its-prescribed-burn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/sustainability\/2017\/03\/14\/uw-whitewater-nature-preserve-gets-its-prescribed-burn\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Whitewater Nature Preserve gets its prescribed burn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every few years, the UW-W Grounds Crew engages in a prescribed burn<\/a> of the prairie areas of the Nature Preserve.\u00a0 This initially seems counterproductive for plants and trees to be burned, but this process invigorates the native plant species.\u00a0 For thousands of years, prairie environments have experienced fire as a way of clearing old debris and rejuvenating the soil.\u00a0 Typically, these fires were set by natural causes (like lightning) or indigenous people trying to get game animals to come out of hiding.\u00a0 Since European settlement of Wisconsin, fires are generally seen as a destructive enemy to structures and other human property, so fire suppression has eliminated this key restorative feature from the landscape.<\/p>\n

There are a few concerns when prairies no longer see regular burns.\u00a0 The dead plant material can build up year to year and it makes it more difficult for seeds to germinate and establish new plants.\u00a0 When the reproductive capacity of these plants is limited, there is an increased likelihood of invasive species and other weeds to establish in these open areas and begin to take over the prairie landscape.<\/p>\n

Our prairie is still relatively young, with initial efforts for re-establishment beginning in the late 1990s.\u00a0 Before that, it was used for agriculture and later became overrun with woody invasives.\u00a0 Those species were removed and successful seeding efforts have crowded out most of these problem plants, but a few still remain.\u00a0 For example, there has been efforts to eradicate reed canary grass <\/a>from the low-lying areas of the prairie for many decades with little success, primarily due to their ability to spread by rhizome (underground) as well as by seed.<\/p>\n

However, the more noticeable and pervasive invaders are white sweet-clover<\/a> and yellow sweet-clover<\/a>.\u00a0 These plants are probably familiar to most people as they are commonly found in roadside environments and other unmanaged areas along agricultural fields.\u00a0 These plants are biennial, which means they only live two years, but they produce a huge number of seeds that can be viable for decades in the soil system.\u00a0 They are also somewhat resistant to fire, but most of them can be culled through prescribed burns.\u00a0 Due to the prevalence of this plant, we plan to burn the prairie three years in a row in totality to attempt to eradicate this problem plant.\u00a0 This does put more stress on the prairie plants to survive, but they are more likely to make it compared to the sweet clovers, which have shallower roots.<\/p>\n

It might look pretty desolate now, but prairies respond very favorably to prescribed burns.\u00a0 Keep an eye on our prairie during the spring and summer and you shouldn’t be disappointed with an incredible display of plants with hopefully much less sweet clover!\u00a0 Here are a few photos of the burn from last week.<\/p>\n