stewardship
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Why would we set the preserve on fire?
Fire was once so common that entire landscapes evolved alongside it.
In southwest Michigan, prairies, prairie fen wetlands, oak savannas, and oak-hickory forests are home to plants that need fire to thrive.
The term “Good Fire” (also known as prescribed fire) acknowledges its intentional use as a tool for improving habitat by the original Indigenous caretakers of this landscape, the Anishinaabe people.
By burning with purpose – in the right place, season, and weather conditions – flames were kept small, creeping through the forest’s ground layer, burning old sticks and leaves, stimulating fresh plant growth, and leaving large trees unharmed.
The benefits of Indigenous fire culture continue to be many. Native blueberries and huckleberries yield greater harvests after fire. Hunting is improved because fire consumes loud crunchy dry leaves and encourages the rapid growth of tender, nutritious shoots which attract deer.
Some animals also need fire-adapted habitats. Federally-endangered Mitchell’s satyr butterflies and Eastern massasauga rattlesnakes depend on fire to keep prairie fens healthy. And many birds, including red-headed woodpeckers, bluebirds, and meadowlarks, are in decline from the loss of savanna and prairie habitats, partly due to the lack of fire.
But conventional land management practices have stamped fire out so well that southwest Michigan’s fire-adapted habitats have been invaded and changed by new plants previously held back by fire – sometimes beyond recognition. Maple trees fill the much-needed canopy gaps in oak-hickory forests, creating deep shade that kills the seedlings of fire-adapted trees. Autumn olive engulfs former savannas. Buckthorn chokes the prairie fens.
