Great burns today!

The weather really cooperated today. Fortunately, we had 13 people lined up to do burns and we were able to get a lot of burning done.

We burned our south-facing slope, which is short-grass prairie in the lower half, and bur oak savanna above. We used a strip head fire technique this time and it worked very well. Coverage was excellent, much over 90%. Denny Connor was the burn "boss".

Kathie and I are also managers for Black Earth Rettenmund State Natural Area. After finishing at Pleasant Valley Conservancy, we all grabbed a quick lunch, moved there, and started burning all over again. The burns there were small but complicated because of the complex boundaries of the property. But everything went well. We were finished by 4 PM.

On our way back to Madison, Kathie and I saw several large smoke plumes. We weren't the only ones burning.

Despite the cold winter, this has been one of the earliest burn seasons since we started burning 12 years ago.