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It’s part of a continuing effort that began in 2001 to use a centuries-old tool – fire – to restore fire-dependent prairie landscapes on public and conservancy-owned land in south Thurston County.
“The native prairies essentially evolved with fire,” said Mason McKinley, The Nature Conservancy’s Thurston County project manager and a trained firefighter. “Our South Sound prairies are beautiful, wide-open places with a remarkable diversity of wildflowers, birds and butterflies. Fire is essential to this diversity and to the prairies’ ecological health.”
The controlled burns also reduce the build-up of brush, which can fuel wildfires, as well as keep non-native species at bay and add nutrients to the soil, McKinley said.
Sites slated for prescribed burns include the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Scatter Creek Wildlife Area, The Nature Conservancy’s Tenalquot Prairie near Rainier and Thurston County’s Glacial Heritage Preserve, near Littlerock. The fires range in size from 1-acre test plots to a 60-acre fire at Glacial Heritage.
“It’s not much different than past years,” McKinley said of the 2010 plans to start burning as soon as next week, continuing through early October.
Conditions for burning vary from site to site, including a wind direction to keep smoke out of nearby homes, temperatures ranging from the mid-60s into the 80s and relative humidity less than 60 percent.
The fires are managed by trained Nature Conservancy crews supported by teams from the state Department of Natural Resources and local fire districts.
The burns also are constrained by air-quality conditions.
“We don’t do burns when the air quality is compromised,” McKinley said.
John Dodge: 360-754-5444 jdodge@theolympian.com
