ErnieMiller Burn

Ernie Miller Park, a prairie restoration area that started with KCWildland's Cedar tree event in 2001, is located on Hwy7 south of hwy10 by ~3mi in Johnson Co., KS
Today was the area's first prescribed burn (since it became a park, anyway). The park was difficult to burn due to its proximity to the hwy, the nature center and nearby neighborhoods. The only wind that would fit it's prescription was an Easterly one- one that is hard to get!

Grant(JoCo parks) identified a pair of phoebes in the grasses and amongst the tall remains of thistles and rattlesnake masters.
Around 10am this morning Johnson co. parks people met a small group of individual volunteers who were fortunate enough to be able to participate. Larry Rizzo, Linda William, Mel Haney, Dick Dawson, myself and my mother. The wind gusted at about 13mph and was more consistent near 5mph. The humidity read ~46%- pretty low for a cloudy, drizzly day. The prairie was fairy small and hosted years of dead fuel-mostly sedge and dead cedars.

Larry and Leon (Ernie Miller) started the burn. Larry led Leon on opposite sides of the burn area to create a bit of a black line using a backfire. Larry ignited a cedar near the line to get it over with. They lit several other large brush piles-dogwood, honeysuckle and cedar that volunteers had cut and piled over the years. A few of the piles were directly on the line and required supervision. The largest pile was in the center of the prairie and let flames grow to over 20'!! Larry was the only one who stuck around close enough to feel that one.

They stripped about 1/2 of the area and then lit a head fire at the border of the Hwy.

The fire roared across the remaining portion of the prairie- flames were about 6' and the heat was intense, though it was all over very quickly. We left a field of blackened brush and rocks- a burnt deer skeleton, two burning wood piles and a whole lot of green. The penstemon is green and the bases of each bundle of grass is getting that way, too.

They finished torching a few standing trees. Mel mentioned the lack of critters fleeing the brush piles and the fire overall. for as much as there was, I guess there should have been something living in there.?
We went over to the plantings surrounding the entrance road and front parking lot. They required little in the way of backfire because both were surrounded by wide trails and roads. They circled the thick grassland and let it do its thing. The fire was loud, hot and fast. it drove over a patch of something that sounded like when you run your finger over a cactus or hair comb- all prickly and such. A small vortex developed on the backside of the fire-carried burning debris and smoke.
A mouse or rat fled the slower part of the fire. He bounced from his stand of grass into the woods near the Nature Center.

Found a pile of pheasant feathers near the car- they're out there!

RPG burn II

Rose verbena is greening on the glades

Last fall we attempted to burn the glades with little success- I think I remember the winds being in that dreaded state of Light and Variable and a lack of fuel on the ground. Well, if it doesn't burn the first time, what do you do!!??

Burn it again!

Though I was at Blue River Glades until ~1pm, I was able to join Larry and the crew for an hour at the end. He had a big smile on his face and everything was black. He was just doing touch-ups when I arrived. I followed him around for a while.

I asked about the fire dept. and Larry replied that they had not shown. I guess I jinxed that. A fire truck rolled up within a matter of minutes- no lights or sirens. The fire dpt. is required to respond to every call, but were well aware of what we were doing. Larry edged the bluff-igniting a few patches of Wild oats along his way. The oats were deafening! He walked left a trail of fire through the largest patch of oats-this one much denser than the others. The flames were several feet high and the heat hit my face from 25 ft. I had to turn away.

Soon after, Larry dismissed the majority of the volunteers. What was left to do- a little touchup and making sure that nothing was burning that shouldn't be -he could do with the few that stayed with him. Bill, who was appointed to babysit, Brian and Larry finished it off.
I heard several comments about how this went even better than the fall burn and even Larry acknowledged that it had surpassed expectations- a rare occurrence!

BlueRiverGlades Burn- Day II

I arrived at Rocky Point with my mother. I thought we were late, but we were not the last to arrive and the group had not even assembled to review any kind of a plan. John (jackson co.) needed a coupla hands to help his crew at Blue River Glades-

We had burned the 2nd and third glades yesterday- they went smokey and slower in most wooded spots. Today we were to complete the system by burning Glade # 1- the glade you pop up onto when you take the trail from Blue river rd.

It was warm and the humidity was lower than what it was when we started yesterday.

We started to burn about 2/3 onto the glades segment -along the back fire line at the crest of the hill. We striped the back line several times before my side (the side up against the draw between 2nd and 1st glades) wrapped around to ignite a head fire. We lit the base of the wooded hill and burnt the leaf-litter before we created a second, hotter, faster head fire from the main trail. The radiant heat was intense- at times unbearable! My goggles protected most of my face. I covered my lips, chin, and as much of my cheeks as I could with my left hand when I crouched to take a few pics. It was only a split second before the tiny spots of exposed skin grew too hot to let cook. I whipped my face around and found extreme relief when my front side faced from the huge flames. The back of my legs roasted where the jeans touched me. I turned and snapped another seconds worth of photos before I again turned away and rest the lens of the camera of my chin. The metal rim of the filter scorched my chin. I cant believe what I put that camera through!

Spiders swarmed on the ground in a massive spider-migration to flee the heat and smoke. A green stink-bug or moth could be seen in the air at anytime. A small bark-beetle crawled from a decaying log.

John gave me a torch and the opportunity to sling flames during a short mop-up above the bluffs. I think I would have had more fun if I was -maybe- 10yrs? younger. I had a blast as it was and learned some new things too.
We moved below the bluffs where smoke was already billowing from. I was sent back for a bladder pack. Forgot how heavy they are!

John immediately traded me a rake for the pack upon my return and we made our way along the underside of the first glade. Spent an hour or so putting out the heavier fuels from above the creek and below the bluffs before we called it quits. Everybody looked pretty exhausted- two days of that 'll wear you out!

BlueRiverGlades Burn

The burn was sucessful! In my opinion, anyway... Jackson co. and the city teamed up to make it happen.

The trails were muddy-very slick. Early on it was cold and all of the mud was frozen. The cool, brisk wind drove me to put on a jacket, though by 1pm it was too hot. The bases of many plants are becomeing green and most trees are starting to display small, velvet buds.

At 11, the humidity had dropped below 50% and the winds were blowing from the SW at 5mph. The breeze was cold, but it was weak and became overpowered by the sunlight when it struck my face and was warm. It felt as if the sun was melting winter off of my skin and warmed my shirt so that it became hot to touch. We lit under these conditions and where the wind could reach- on the crest of each hill and in the open spaces of the area- the fire was able to burn. Dave did strips along the back fireline until about 50ft of black(ish) was had. From there, bill wraped the glade and tied in with the other group to send a head-fire over the hill. Where the grass was tall and thick enough, the flames could reach maybe 6ft, though it was only on the close corner of the 2nd glade. The fire blackened groundlitter to the edge of the bluffs ( and in a few spots, where it found a crack or hanging debris, over the bluff and below it) and up the glade and savannah until the fuel was only wet leaves. We did a quick mop up and I split. The crew was to eat lunch and return once more to make sure the area was safe.

The fire was very smokey and it just about chokes you to look at the photos. My lungs are sore and my eyes burn- what a great day!

Jerry Smith Park Burn

LARRY AND BILL- CLEAN UP

We burned the entire prairie today. The fire was the largest that I'd ever participated in and took about 5 hours. The start was confusing and overcrowded, but as the day progressed and people left I became more comfortable. It was the first event like it I think the news has covered- Many photographers attended and even had a helicopter land near the event. Ive watched the local news, but haven't seen anything- Imagine that!

Most of the day was pretty uneventful, but there was a few exciting moments. However, the entire day was beautiful and full of nice photo opportunities. I felt that there was a lot of bad communication between volunteers and I am eager to learn more- so that I can make decisions for myself.

Parts of the fire were very hot- others were cool and smokey.

This depended on the type of fuel and the wind. The green fescue burned slow and with dark smoke- the dryer, dead bluestem and oily cedar burned hot and quickly.

I was surprised to find large amounts of insects and other creepy crawlies fleeing the fire. Like this grasshopper, many of the creatures who flee get burned or suffocate in the thick smoke that is trapped low in the brush. Most creatures hide in or under downed trees, logs and moist earth. These critters are not harmed, as the fire rolls over them and does not significantly heat the ground.

don't know why I like this one- not too many others seem to.

Burn

Prescribed burns are a proven way to manage many different habitats-especially those that have a long history involving fire, like prairies and glades. On these unique ecosystems, plants and animals alike have evolved and adapted to benefit from the frequent fires that the native americans sent across the land for thousands of years. Grasses are stimulated by fire, and many forbes rely on it to rid them of ground clutter. Bison and other mammals search for the abundant fresh growth stimulated by the fires.

Today at rocky point glade we burned from the entrance road to the "great divide" - a small creekbed past the second gladetop. Though todays burn was much better than yesterdays, due to a better fuel bed and stronger winds, it was not as successful as I would have liked to have seen it. Wind direction was at no point consistent, sometimes switching from East to West in the matter of seconds. In addition, many plants were still, unseasonably, very green.

Nonetheless, a burn is always fun. Larry Rizzo(MDC) and Bill fessler(kansas city), among many others from all over the place, lit fires today. Larry (left) has conducted burns on the area for many years, and was not disappointed with today because he thinks that with other recent fires burning very well, it might be a good thing to leave the area with only a light burn for a change.

Some kind of aster escaped the fire.


ANOTHER KIND OF FIRE right

HEAVEN OR HELL? below

Burn

Maybe a 3-seed Mercury ? I couldnt ID

An old trail smothed in th cropuscular rays formed by the smoke. (Right)

Below: Smoke cant even dull the fall colours!

A flame trys to overcome a small green stand of grass

The sun is blocked by the thick smoke.

Participated in the first burn of the year today. We burned (tryed to burn) a private piece of land ~15acres, somewhere off of hwy13 in Johnsin Co, MO. Its was a gorgeous plot of wooded land next to a lake. The trees were almost all some kind of Oak, and were all in their peak of fall colour. I saw more colour today than I have all season!

THe forcast was for 40% humidity, and NW winds at 13mph (a west wind would have been better). But what we actually got was ~30% humidity(not bad) and light and variable winds. This was not good; the fire would thrive in a wind direction, but when the wind shifted to like the opposite direction, as it often did, the fire would be forced into an area that had already been burned, and die.

Overall, the fire was not a successful one, but probably the most beautiful understory burn Ive ever witnessed. We (myself, my mother, the land owners neighbor: Larry Rizzo, and a few others) may try again when we are able to build up a heavier feul load(leaves) and conditions are more favorable.