Tricky controlled burn near buildings

After we finished our large south-slope burn on Saturday, we did several  planted prairies nearby. Due to the weather and the lush fuel, these burns took more time/people than the much larger south-slope burn. Especially difficult was the series of small prairie units near our buildings. (These prairies were planted here originally for demonstration purposes.)

The three small buildings here are the cabin, which functions as a small field station, the well house which is an essential source of water, and the privy, also essential.

Burning the Cabin Prairies

The photo above shows the crowd of people involved. There was only one drip torch, but lots of water.

The most important tools were the two pumper units in the ATVs. The water in these units had good pressure and long reaches and served to keep the flame heights low. In addition, we had 4 people with water backcans, who were able to accurately place water where it was needed.

Other planted prairies that we burned were the Valley and Crane Prairies, both of which have complex habitats, varying from wet prairie near the bottom to dry prairie at the top near Pleasant Valley Road.