The Purdue Extension will be hosting a prescribed fire workshop on Saturday, March 18 at Hayes Arboretum in Richmond. This might be more applicable to you than you first think. Prescribed fires, or controlled burns,  refer to the controlled application of fire by a team of fire experts under specified weather condition, and  have long been a method of tending the land. Jonathan Ferris, the Agriculture & Natural Resources Extension Educator with Purdue Extension in Wayne County wrote, “This workshop is targeted to landowners who own native warm season grass plantings or have CRP (Crop Reserve Program) acres that need to be managed.  Prescribed fire is a natural tool used to rejuvenate grass plantings and suppress woody vegetation growth in those acres.  Historically, fire was a natural part of the landscape and even the Native Americans would use fire on the prairies to improve them for wildlife such as buffalo.” Ferris himself has two native warm season grass plantings (33 acres and 6 acres) that he says they periodically run fire across to help renew the grass and suppress the trees and brambles that try to creep in.  Since using prescribed fire, he says they have seen a tremendous increase in the utilization of those acres by a variety of wildlife species, from wild turkey and deer to songbirds and pollinators. 

“If someone has grassland acres that they are considering burning, this will be an excellent workshop to attend,” Ferris said.  “The use of fire has inherent dangers, and landowners considering using it need to be properly trained in its use.  The morning will consist of an educational presentation on prescribed fire given by Jarred Brooke, a Purdue Extension wildlife extension specialist with many years of burning experience.  In the afternoon, weather permitting, we hope to burn about 2 acres of a native warm season grass planting on the arboretum.” To register for this event, call  765.962.3745 or email [email protected].