Burning a prairie is what makes it grow stronger and better. Hard to believe, right? And how long does it take to “recover” from that? Well, it recovers immediately. Within three months the untrained eye wouldn’t know it had ever been burned. Whether it was Native Americans or random lightning strikes, the plants of the prairie survived and thrived because of fire, not in spite of it, and today all prairie restoration and reconstruction includes fire in the plan. Companies like Earthview Environmental that helped us with this burn are sprouting up all over to help landowners with restoration projects. They can be a great source of knowledge and expertise, but if you’d rather not pay for that in cash, do it in time by contacting your Department of Natural Resources to see when the next fire safety training is.

Larger photo available in the gallery.