[LOVEBoy]

We have had a couple weeks of dry weather here, the day this fire was set the winds were well over 15 mph, with gusts over 25 mph. Should they have chosen to wait for a day with less wind?

I thought prairie burns were supposed to be small, that burning more than small part of the prairie would harm the populations of birds, mammals, and ephemerals, such as insects and prairie annuals? I also thought the burning should be done a little earlier in the spring, before much has sprouted, and before the birds are on their nests?

Several hundred acres burned, several fire departments from the surrounding municipalities had to come out to keep the fire from spreading out of the park.














Illinois Beach State Park, in far northeastern Illinois, on the shore of Lake Michigan, is roughly 2200 acres of beach, dune, sand prairie, and oak savana, much has been set aside as a nature preserve and recreational beach. This is one of the first nature preserves in Illinois to be set up. At least 9 of the 14 or so species of orchid native to Illinois can be found in this park.

It looks like this fire was too large and too hot to be more benifical than harmful. It will be interesting to see what recovers and how quickly things come back.