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Annual prescribed prairie grass burn 60 percent successful at state park

Lead Summary
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By
Mavis Fodness

Blue Mounds State Park employees spent Thursday, Sept. 28, eliminating woody growth and dead vegetation with a prescribed burn.
According to assistant park manager Tom Sawtelle, burns take place each year when weather conditions permit and when personnel are available.
He said the park is behind on its normal burn schedule. “Ideally we like to burn the 500-acre bison range every year,” he said.
Other areas of the almost 2,000-acre park are burned in a rotation over a three- to four-year period.
The last prescribed burn took place this spring.
On Thursday 57 acres were marked for burning in the southwest corner of the park, including the area around the former interpretive center.
Two burn crews waited until late morning as dew points and humidity levels dropped. Winds also started in a southeasterly direction, away from U.S. Highway 75 and County Road 8. By late afternoon, however, when winds switched to a northeasterly direction visibility for drivers on County Road 8 was diminished.
“It got pretty smoky,” he said.
Two park employees and signs alerted drivers to the hazard.
Thursday’s burn was not totally successful.
“I say it was 60 percent successful,” Sawtelle said.
Crews began extinguishing the fire around 6 p.m. when grasses failed to ignite in the park’s southwest corner.
Sawtelle said no additional burns are planned for this fall.
Prescribed burns encourage the growth of natural prairie grasses such as Big Bluestem by placing more nitrogen in the soil.
The burns also hinder the woody undergrowth and other evasive species from taking over various park areas.

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