Big wetland burn at Pleasant Valley

Today the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Private Lands Office, burned the large wetland that includes Pleasant Valley Conservancy. This 150 acre wetland (large for the driftless area) has five separate owners, all of whom agreed to permit this burn. Pleasant Valley Conservancy owns about 35 acres of this wetland.

This was a major, very complex burn, and required a really skilled fire crew. Mike Engle wrote the burn plan, and Terry Severson was the burn boss.

I'll give the results of the burn in my next post, after I have mapped the burned area. This post just provides some photos showing the burn in action.

The photo below shows the burn crew at the initial orientation session. The burn boss is discussing the purpose of the burn, the conditions needed for a successful burn, any contingencies, etc.
The photo below shows the middle of the wetland when the burn was well underway.
The photo below shows the burn results in a cattail/sedge meadow area near the Valley Prairie. The Conservancy barn is in the distance.
The photo below shows some nice flame heights in a shrub-carr area.

This was a very successful burn. I'll have a map and some details in my next post.