Wetlands burn slated for Thursday / LJWorld.com

Archive for Thursday, April 5, 2012

Wetlands burn slated for Thursday

By Staff Reports

April 5, 2012

A controlled grass burn is scheduled Thursday morning for the Baker Wetlands south of Lawrence, said Roger Boyd, director of natural areas for Baker University.

An area between 200 and 250 acres will be burned in sections, beginning about 8 a.m., Boyd said, though wet weather overnight could delay the start time by a few hours. The grass burning could take most of the morning. It is scheduled for today because the wind is expected to be out of the north.

Boyd said the burn served several purposes, including to kill woody vegetation and to shorten the grass, which is 9 feet high in some areas, thus allowing new plants to grow.

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Cant_have_it_both_ways 1 year, 1 month ago

Seems no one cares about the endangered wildlife being burned to death. Where are the greenies and frog lovers now?

guess_again 1 year, 1 month ago

Seared Agnes T. ummm ummm good.

kernal 1 year, 1 month ago

Better a controlled burn now than a wildfire this summer.

Although lightening is often the culprit of wildfires so are humans. Especially irresponsible are people who persist in throwing lit cigarette butts out their car window during red flag warnings.

KRichards 1 year, 1 month ago

Or those who persist on throwing them out at anytime.

catfishturkeyhunter 1 year, 1 month ago

I have no respect for a smoker who throws their butts on the ground. Talk about lazy.

Jake Esau 1 year, 1 month ago

Anyone who has ever done a highway cleanup knows just how many people throw cigarette butts out car windows. It's disgusting.

DougCounty 1 year, 1 month ago

I realize that the tongue is planted firmly in several commenter's cheeks, but for those who don't know, prairie burns are management techniques that have been used by humans in this area for thousands of years in order to 1) kill woody invasives which in this area would otherwise take over the prairies; and 2) stimulate earlier growth of grasses and forbs, some of which have evolved to grow better with periodic burns, providing a higher quality, earlier source of food that actually attracts wildlife.

And for those who are concerned about the greenhouse gases and pollution released by the burns, fire has been a central part of these ecosystems since time immemorial and are creating emissions that have been incorporated into the atmosphere for just as long. To blame burning prairies as the problem is kinda like paving over much of a valley and complaining that the creek that drains it is a big problem because it is overflowing the banks and therefore needs to be channelized. In other words, we need to take care of our emissions before worrying about the emissions from prairie burns.

Pywacket 1 year, 1 month ago

Very well said!

Cant_have_it_both_ways 1 year, 1 month ago

It is always ok, depending on who or what wants to do it.

asixbury 1 year, 1 month ago

The animals aren't stupid. They will run (or fly or slither) away from the fire. Controlled burns do not spreed very quickly if don't correctly, so the slow burn gives plenty of time for the wildlife to scoot.

KSense 1 year, 1 month ago

Animals have a strong instinct to run from fire. They'll get out of the way.

otto 1 year, 1 month ago

Or sometimes the rabbits, rats etc... hide in their dens until the heat gets so intense they run out and across the field while on fire spreading the fire for you.

Cant_have_it_both_ways 1 year, 1 month ago

Great... then if they are smart enough to run from fire..then they should be smart enough to run away from the machinery and equipment required to build the long needed SLT.

I am glad we agree on something.

Liberal 1 year, 1 month ago