Ecological Burns Scheduled for Thurson County Prairies

Fire Restores Important Prairie Habitat

OLYMPIA, WA— August 25, 2008 — The Nature Conservancy, the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, local fire districts, and Thurston County have plans to cooperatively burn several South Sound prairie preserves possibly starting August 28 through September and early October. These controlled burns are part of an ongoing effort to steward and restore the fire-dependent prairie ecosystem that once dominated the Thurston County landscape.

Called “ecological burns,” such fires help to return nutrients to the soil and keep non-native plants at bay. Fires are also part of a long tradition in Washington’s South Sound prairies, something Native Americans initiated centuries ago to help sustain the habitat as an important food supply. As a result, fire became a key ecological process necessary to maintaining this rich and vibrant ecosystem. The Conservancy and its partners have been conducting controlled prairie burns in the Thurston County area since 2001.

Depending on safe and favorable weather conditions, several burns are planned during the coming weeks. Sites include: Thurston County’s Glacial Heritage Preserve; Department of Natural Resources’ Mima Mounds and Rocky Prairie preserves; Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Scatter Creek Wildlife Area; Wolf Haven; and The Nature Conservancy’s Tenalquot Prairie. Many of the burns will be small, designed to study fire’s effects on habitat. The largest planned burn will be 80 acres at Glacial Heritage.

The fires will be carefully managed by trained Nature Conservancy crews with support from DNR and local fire districts, who will have on site the necessary equipment and supplies to safely conduct each burn. The Nature Conservancy has considerable prescribed fire experience nationwide and in 2007 directly managed or assisted on almost 360,000 acres of controlled burns across numerous habitat types.

Reporters interested in covering this year's prescribed fire program should contact Mason McKinley at (360) 584-2538.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.