ESA Burn Completed

The recent warm and dry weather did give us the opportunity to revisit the ESA(Environmentally Sensitive Area) burn that was unsuccessful in early December(ESA Burn - Fail).  During the first attempt, there existed too much moisture for an effective burn to be completed.  Leaves and vegetation at the edges of the ESAs would light, but the fire would not carry towards the middle of the areas.  The smoke in the pictures from the post in December shows the amount of moisture that was still in these areas.

Wednesday's dry conditions with a light breeze was sufficient for getting this project completed before the spring.  Our lack of snow and abundance of warm sunny weather sufficiently dried the remaining plant material to burn with little effort.  The light breeze was able to move the flames through the canopy to ensure a thorough burn of the surface.

The burn is done to remove the dead stalks and plant material to provide an open surface for the seedlings in the spring.  We try to do this every 16-18 months.