ANN ARBOR – In the late afternoon Thursday on the grounds of the Leslie Science & Nature Center, staff members of Natural Area Preservation carried out a demonstration of a controlled burn.
The purpose of the demonstration was the culmination of the day's volunteer training.
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Anyone can volunteer to help the crews carry out controlled burns in Ann Arbor's forests and parks. The burn seasons run March through April and October through December.
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
The Natural Area Preservation program was established by the city of Ann Arbor in 1993 to "protect and restore Ann Arbor’s natural areas and to foster an environmental ethic among its citizens." It's been carrying out controlled burns every year since 1994.
So why is burning important?
"These landscapes here in Ann Arbor were historically maintained with fire by Native Americans," Dave Borneman, deputy manager of Natural Area Preservation, said. "So the oak forests and oak savannahs and prairies that we have are here because the Native Americans burned these landscapes. We take fire out of the landscapes, and we lose those ecosystems."
Borneman said the oaks in the area have become dependent on controlled burns to thrive.
David Borneman, NAP deputy manager, leads the training exercise (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
"Our oak forests are not only fire tolerant, they’re fire dependent. And in order for an acorn to germinate it needs two things: It needs contact with bare soil and it needs sunlight. In many of our forests today it’s very typical to see big, tall oak trees and no young seedlings coming in. And the problem isn’t the lack of acorns, it’s that the acorns that fall on the ground are in the shade and they’re laying on top of leaf litter.
"So if we burn those areas, we get rid of the leaf litter, the acorns get down to the soil, and the fire helps to let more sunlight in. Where we do the most burning, we get the most oak regeneration."
Borneman led the five-hour training session with the help of Michael Hahn, a stewardship specialist at NAP.
Hahn is one of four "Burn Bosses" and leads controlled fires in the spring and fall.
Michael Hahn and Jim Hope, longtime prescribed burn volunteer (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
"We average between 10 and 20 burns a season. If we get anything above 100 acres in a season, it would be considered a productive (one)," he said. "Space-wise, our burns average a quarter of an acre or less and they go all the way up to 20 acres – that will keep us busy for the day!"
According to Borneman, the ratio of staff to volunteers depends on the individual's experience with controlled burns.
"We have staff here who this is their first burn season and we’ve had volunteers who’ve come for years and years. So we could have a burn with a burn boss and all volunteers if they’re experienced. Typically, we’ll have twice as many volunteers as staff, but it depends on the experience of the volunteers as well as the staff."
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
Jim Hope has been volunteering with NAP for 23 years. An engineer by trade and a volunteer firefighter, he has worked on roughly 150 controlled burns in Ann Arbor.
For him, being able to see the difference his work has had on local landscapes has been the most meaningful.
"There are some sites in Ann Arbor that I go to that I remember burning 20 years ago and I look at it and I can see it went from just a wall of brush to an open oak savannah, like it should be. It’s amazing. Going back to areas that I know I’ve burned and walked the trails, looking at it in the springtime, you see all these wildflowers whereas before it was just brush and invasive plants."
When asked if he's ever had a close call, he said, "On controlled fires, if it even looks like it’s going to turn bad we slow down, stop, because someone getting hurt on this doesn’t make any sense. No one should be in danger, ever. I’ve never been in danger on a controlled fire. On a wildfire, yes, once or twice."
NAP staff ignite a prescribed burn on Feb. 22, 2018 (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
Volunteers must attend the spring training course, sign a volunteer release and waiver of liability and fill out a medical history form.
Volunteers come from all walks of life. According to Borneman, the first few burns of the spring season (the busiest one of the two) will attract the most volunteers. But after spending hours with heavy gasoline and water packs on their backs, many volunteers will drop out of the program.
Just like inviting citizens to volunteer, it is important for Borneman that locals are informed, too.
"I think that the citizens of Ann Arbor are very tolerant of this and seem to be very supportive," Borneman said. "We do a public meeting like we had last night and we sent letters out to about 5,000 people who are neighboring on the parks where we’ll be doing these burns and we send these letters to them and say, 'This is happening. If you have any questions come to the burn public meeting.'
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
"We’ve done a good job over the years on educating the public on the need for these and how to do them safely. We put signs in the parks, we put signs along the roads so people driving by know where the smoke is coming from."
Besides attending the public meeting, Borneman said he encourages people to come watch a burn (an experience he said is rare in most areas).
"Here we welcome people to come and watch," he said. "These are their parks and we’re trying to restore their ecosystems so come and learn what it’s all about."
Learn more about controlled burns here.