# Illinois Beach State Park Prairie Burn - Fail



## Leo Schordje (Apr 24, 2010)

We have had a couple weeks of dry weather here, the day this fire was set the winds were well over 15 mph, with gusts over 25 mph. Should they have chosen to wait for a day with less wind? 

I thought prairie burns were supposed to be small, that burning more than small part of the prairie would harm the populations of birds, mammals, and ephemerals, such as insects and prairie annuals? I also thought the burning should be done a little earlier in the spring, before much has sprouted, and before the birds are on their nests? 

Several hundred acres burned, several fire departments from the surrounding municipalities had to come out to keep the fire from spreading out of the park. 

































Illinois Beach State Park, in far northeastern Illinois, on the shore of Lake Michigan, is roughly 2200 acres of beach, dune, sand prairie, and oak savana, much has been set aside as a nature preserve and recreational beach. This is one of the first nature preserves in Illinois to be set up. At least 9 of the 14 or so species of orchid native to Illinois can be found in this park. 

It looks like this fire was too large and too hot to be more benifical than harmful. It will be interesting to see what recovers and how quickly things come back.


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## goldenrose (Apr 24, 2010)

I think their heads were stuck in the sand! 
Let's hope for the best, keep us posted!


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## KyushuCalanthe (Apr 24, 2010)

Hey Leo, I know nothing about the ecology of Illinois's dune prairies, but I'd imagine the effect isn't that dire. In Florida (an area I have studied and actually been a participant in controlled burns) fires naturally occur in late spring and extend into mid summer, from May to July. In this case all the plants have already grown and have flower (or are in the process) and all the animals are active and many are raising their young. Except where fires got so hot that they crowned (burned the canopy trees), the result was always positive. 

Areas that were overgrown with subcanopy hardwoods and shrubs were suddenly open grassland again, allowing herbaceous species to flower and reproduce. I can't tell you how many orchids "suddenly appeared" after a burn - usually the next spring - Calopogon species, Pogonia ophioglossoides, Cleistes bifaria and C. divaricata, Platentheras of all kinds, Spiranthes, and on down the line. The bigger problem in the states is fire suppression, not burns, at least in fire dependent communities. Mesic forest is a whole other matter.

It would be interesting to hear the Illinois park's department and DNR's view on this burn. Do you know if it was a prescribed burn or arson?


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## SlipperFan (Apr 24, 2010)

Wow, Leo -- I've not heard a thing about this.


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## smartie2000 (Apr 24, 2010)

burns can be beneficial, very much so. But I am not an expert on this subject.

I know it does look terrible right now...

Please update us on how the flora and fauna grows back in the future. That would be interesting.


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## NYEric (Apr 24, 2010)

If that happened here heads would be preparing to roll!


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## cdub (Apr 26, 2010)

I bet that place comes back to "normal" in no time. You watch. You're right there are recommendations for time of year and temperature or depth of the fire, but I've seen places that were burnt to a crisp like that spring back with some of the most lush growth I've ever seen in just a year's time.


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## Scooby5757 (Apr 26, 2010)

I did a plant inventory last summer of a field in Pennington NJ for two months to prep for a burn. We were/are going to burn the whole field. A fall or spring burn benefits either grasses or forbes a bit more, respectively (i think thats the order), so I'd imagine this would benefit. The only temporary concern would be the timing for nesting. That I don't know the specifics of for your area.

Please take some more pics over the next few months of the same shots. I'd love to see the succession and to see whether or not it looks successful and your opinions on wildlife abundance and diversity in the area.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Apr 26, 2010)

Scooby5757 said:


> Please take some more pics over the next few months of the same shots. I'd love to see the succession and to see whether or not it looks successful and your opinions on wildlife abundance and diversity in the area.



Yes, that would be cool to see.


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## Kyle (Apr 27, 2010)

smartie2000 said:


> burns can be beneficial, very much so. But I am not an expert on this subject.



You may not be an expert, but I kinda am. I am the burn boss for the municipality I work for and am responsible for all controlled burns. I have burned over 15000 acres of prairie and aspen parkland in Manitoba and Minnesota.

Right now we are shut down because its to dry. But hopefully we will be able to start burning next week.

Spring burns are typically done to control undesirable, non-native, cool season grasses. It is a risk that a burn can burn too hot if winds are not strong enough, but if the fire got away on them, I assume the winds were strong enough to keep the fire moving and thus would be considered cool.

Fire is not a regular occurance (ie annual) and thus things like nesting birds and small mammals are not usually factored into decisions to burn. Most burns are done with the goal of habitat improvement or augmentation. Birds will re-nest. Insects will burrow, mammals will run through the flames. All these animals have evovled with fire as a disturbance. 

I'll post some pictures tommorrow. Your pictures are great. Are there any links to som news articles? I'm curious what went wrong.


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## Leo Schordje (Apr 27, 2010)

KyushuCalanthe said:


> Hey Leo, I know nothing about the ecology of Illinois's dune prairies, but I'd imagine the effect isn't that dire. In Florida (an area I have studied and actually been a participant in controlled burns) fires naturally occur in late spring and extend into mid summer, from May to July. In this case all the plants have already grown and have flower (or are in the process) and all the animals are active and many are raising their young. Except where fires got so hot that they crowned (burned the canopy trees), the result was always positive.
> 
> Areas that were overgrown with subcanopy hardwoods and shrubs were suddenly open grassland again, allowing herbaceous species to flower and reproduce. I can't tell you how many orchids "suddenly appeared" after a burn - usually the next spring - Calopogon species, Pogonia ophioglossoides, Cleistes bifaria and C. divaricata, Platentheras of all kinds, Spiranthes, and on down the line. The bigger problem in the states is fire suppression, not burns, at least in fire dependent communities. Mesic forest is a whole other matter.
> 
> It would be interesting to hear the Illinois park's department and DNR's view on this burn. Do you know if it was a prescribed burn or arson?



I don't know what the DNR or the park officially said. I did catch the newspaper and an earful from a neighbor who spends more time in the park than I do. 

The burn was supposed to be a planned burn for 10 acres. *Only ten acres*. The fires swept through at least 400 acres. 

To the best of my understanding the volunteers who set the fire had obtained a permit. The permit was issued for a specific 10 acre site. The permit clearly states that the burn should be postponed if the winds are over 5 mph. I am guessing they did not check in with the Park headquarters immediately before the burn as the permit also requests. The winds were forecast for steady winds of 15 to 20 mph with gusts in excess of 30 mph, actual gusts that day reached 40 mph at times. It was visibly a blustery day, from sunrise to sunset. This wind did not blow up unexpected. It was irresponsible to start the fire that day. Total criminal negligence. The arrogance of the volunteers to think the rules did not apply to them and their prairie burn. It might be possible, because of the deliberate indifference to safety of people, property, and the prairie itself, to charge these prairie burning volunteers with arson, though that probably won't happen. 

To the best of my knowledge Illinois Beach State Park is the only remaining remnant of the Great Lakes dune & sand prairie ecosystem left in the state of Illinois. There is a relatively narrow strip of this habitat, and that is all there is in IL, you either have to go 10 miles north into Wisconsin for a little patch there, then another 50 or so miles further north to a patch north of Milwaukee. Or 90 miles to the south where you have the Indiana Dunes complex. This entire region inbetween is densely developed as urban and suburban properties. Home & factories are adjacent to this park. A decommissioned nuclear power plant is in the center of the park. This is an isolated island of prairie & dune-land. Though the park is 22,000 acres, I'd say less than 3000 acres are prairie, maybe another 2000 acres are dune and beach, and the rest is savanna transitioning into mesic forest. There are 2 discrete prairies about 2 miles apart. They are separated by the nuclear plant. This fire was at the smaller north unit. It looks to me that this fire burned more than half of the north unit prairie. 

About the timing and benefit of burning a prairie;

Illinois is mostly zone 5, with a considerably shorter and more compressed growing season that Florida. Timing for burns is of course quite different. 

Back nearly a dozen years ago, over a pitcher of beer I had a long talk with Dr. Ron Panzer, an entomologist, I think today he is with the Northeastern IL Univ. Now I haven't read his most recent publications, but at the time, our discussion was about timing of prairie burns. It is important to remember that a prairie is dependent on its insect populations. Flowering plants evolved to take advantage of the insects, and depend on them for pollination. The concern was that late burns, particularly in small island prairie remnants, destroy the insect populations. IL Beach is a small island remnant surrounded entirely by fairly dense urban, industrial and suburban land use. With the unburned patches being small, the possibility exists that some of the insects, especially butterflies, moths, leaf hoppers and those that are very specific in their choice of host species can be completely eliminated by an overly large burn. Insects that have limited flight ability do not recolonize habitat miles away, they tend to move in shorter hops. If their host species don't exist within their natural range of movement, they will stay confined to that remnant island ecosystem. Suburban front lawns are not suitable habitat for the more specialized insects to use as a green highway. The urban and suburban environment surrounding the park essentially are a barrier to the insects as difficult to cross as a dry desert. That is why for small prairies in particular, it is important to keep burns small, and do them earlier in the year. This burn was late enough that the insects were already out and feeding. Yes, the prairie will look green in a few weeks. We may even see a lot of blooms, in part because the dead grasses are out of the way and it will be easier to see. But my fear is that there will be little or no seed produced by the plants requiring specialized pollinators. In particular, orchids, milkweeds and members of the Gentian family. There are others, but I am not that well read on prairies. 

So the enthusiasm for burning prairies, particularly late season burns of small remnant prairies, I feel is misplaced. That fire could have waited for another day, or for that matter, another year. They did not have to burn that day. The prairie was in fairly good shape, waiting another year would not have seriously changed the quality of the prairie. But the volunteers threw safety aside because they felt they were on a mission, and they were so important that the safety rules did not apply to them. It did not have to get out of control. 

I know some of you guys & gals like to set the torch to a prairie once in a while. Well, please be more cautious, you don't want it to get out of control. If conditions are not right, put it off for another day, even if it ends up being to try again the next year. Also, think about the insects, that bug you save may pollinate your favorite Calopogon.

To get an idea about the diversity of prairie insects, read Ron Panzer's article;
http://www.neiu.edu/~cwinsect/index.html
or google any of his other articles.


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## Lanmark (Apr 27, 2010)

Yes I agree that due caution is in order. Just because a burn is scheduled for a certain date doesn't mean that the date should be carved in stone. When the weather has been too dry and the winds are too high, I think the prudent thing to do would be to postpone the burn.

The Kirtland's Warbler in northern lower Michigan is so rare that it may forever remain dependant on mankind's periodic controlled burns on its behalf. Even now that the Warbler's numbers are increasing, extinction remains a very real possibility.


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## smartie2000 (Apr 27, 2010)

I understand why you are unhappy now Leo. And I agree, if the burn was too extensive, the insect diversity would be diminished, especially if the grassland is fragmented/small


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## Kyle (Apr 27, 2010)

I too understand your concern. No out of control fire is a good fire. Especially is property gets damaged. With the conditions you described, I am quite surprised they would proceed with the burn (although I think the 5 mph limit is too low...). Seems like the person in charge lacked common sense.

Your right to point out that insect species are important to prairie ecosystems, however, insect populations are quite resilient. The population will crash, however they do recover. Everything you've said is correct about island dynamics.

Has your friend done any long term studies on insect population pre and post burn? I would be interested in seeing that research.

The burns I conduct are for habitat improvement. To stress non-native plant species and favour native species. The goal is to increase quality and diversity. A well timed fire can have an incredible effect on the prairie. A poorly timed fire will have less of an effect, but always a positive effect.

Its hard to comment on that particular fire without knowing the plants and problems of the site, but I think you'll find long term, the fire did way more good then bad.

Heres a photo of me (in the blue) conducting a controlled burn a couple of years ago. I'll post more later.


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## smartie2000 (Apr 27, 2010)

they should have taught me about burning in my Conservation Biology class...we did discuss non-native plant species invasion


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## Leo Schordje (Apr 27, 2010)

Kyle said:


> I too understand your concern. No out of control fire is a good fire. Especially is property gets damaged. With the conditions you described, I am quite surprised they would proceed with the burn (although I think the 5 mph limit is too low...). Seems like the person in charge lacked common sense.



Thanks, that was my point, several fire departments from the surrounding municipalities had to come out, that costs $$$. The fire spread nearly a mile north of the planned burn and was threatening a marina, with hundreds of boats, buildings, restaurants, people, etc. Fortunately the fire departments stopped it at the last road. But with 30+ mph gusts, it could have easily jumped the road. 



Kyle said:


> Your right to point out that insect species are important to prairie ecosystems, however, insect populations are quite resilient. The population will crash, however they do recover. Everything you've said is correct about island dynamics.



I am not confident that this statement is true for the rare prairie dependant species, please Google some of Ron Panzer's articles on leaf hoppers and moths. For example; some of the moths exist only as caterpillar larvae for most of the year, they can't fly, and when the remaining population known for a species occupies only a few acres, if that entire site is burned, the result can be disasterous. 



Kyle said:


> Has your friend done any long term studies on insect population pre and post burn? I would be interested in seeing that research.



Google Ron Panzer, his bibliography is extensive, much is on the net, with photos. 



Kyle said:


> A poorly timed fire will have less of an effect, but always a positive effect.



No personal offense intended, but this statement is nonsense. Spoken solely from the viewpoint of looking only at the plants. You need to look closely at insect and other ephemeral populations. Poorly timed fires can be disasterous. 

ESPECIALLY disasterous with *SMALL REMNANT praires* where there are NO unburned resevoirs for the insects to come from to recolonize. We are not talking about a spot in the wilderness, we are talking about the last patch of a unique ecosystem with nothing like it for nealy 100 miles. The only possible sources for ephemerals that may have been eliminated is nearly 100 miles away separated by ecologically barren urban landscape. This is functionally, isolated island biogeography. 

Thanks for the comments, please don't take personal offense. But please google & read the articles about *unique issues with maintaining small island remnant ecosystems.* Especially where the insect and other ephemeral populations are involved. Don't just think of the plants, with out their pollinators they are as good as extinct. 

Poorly timed, out of control burning is a negative outcome, and must be avoided in the future. There are no replacement habitats for some of these unique island remnants. They are the last of their kind. 

Thanks one an all for your comments, please ponder this issue and take the discussion back to your local prairie groups.


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## NYEric (Apr 27, 2010)

Send a message to the group responsisble for the burn and ask how they will account for the effects.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Apr 27, 2010)

Thanks for your interesting and detailed response Leo. Unfortunately, as ecosystems get more and more fragmented the ability of them to respond and rebound from natural or artificial disturbance is impaired. Each place is unique and has its own specific regime. People who wish to manage such lands indeed should err on the side of caution, but in the end, "island systems" are always at risk and extinction of species, if only locally, is inevitable.

The real upshot here is not so much about management as it is about how we live on this planet and values we hold about it. Personally, I think we need to go to a mosaic pattern - "wild" lands dispersed and interconnected and humans spread throughout. Also, the greening of cities is the primary issue, especially here in Asia where populations are soaring. Exactly how that can be done needs to be researched and explored pronto. The truth is we are running out of time to explore such opportunities since environmental change is coming so swiftly to essentially the whole globe.


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## Kevin (Apr 27, 2010)

Very interesting discussion. Please keep us updated Leo.


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## Kyle (Apr 28, 2010)

Hi,

Don't worry leo, I take no offense to a healthy dialouge about different philosophies, especially from someone as passionate and knowledgeable as you are.

Insects are complicated little critters. You are correct that, in theory, you could wipe ot the population by burning the 'island'. These insects (and plants) have evolved with fire, and have ways of recovering. Its difficult to have this argument without having a particular insect or plant species as an example. Of course there are exceptions to fire adaptations.

As an ecologist, I concentrate on the health of the ecosystem/habitat. If we talk about rare plant species, habitat degredation is a greater risk to them the the loss of a pollenator, in my opinion. If there are no plants or no healthy plants to pollenate, what have we gained? Remeber most prairie plants are perrenial. they will still be around to be pollenated when the insect population rebound. Also, like plants, some insect population explode right after a burn, what if those insects are the unique pollenator of a species? Fire ecology is such a complex (and beautiful) thing. I know there are negative impacts, but if you look at the big picture, the benifits outway the negatives. Of course thats a generality, there are exceptions.

More photos:
















Kyle


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## NYEric (Apr 28, 2010)

Those women are hot! :evil:


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## Leo Schordje (Apr 30, 2010)

*12 days after the fire*

I have heard many a volunteer go on endlessly about how wonderful fires are to get rid of Eurasian weed species. A couple photos to document that this is not as sure a way to eliminate Eurasians as you might believe. I do accept that a well timed fire is a good management tool, but the emphasis is on *well timed.* Please discuss with your fellow volunteers the next time you are out at a prairie the fact that *it is possible to harm the cause *more than help the cause of preservation if you are thoughtless with your use of fire. 

12 days after the fire
European Thistle the only plant green in this roughly 3 foot by 3 foot plot. This spot is in the oak savana part, oak litter an some very nice flowering natives with prairie dropseed and fine grasses is the normal cover here. This thistle was there before the fire, and now it has a nice head start on any competition. Again, likely the fire was too hot, killing more than would be desirable.







Dandelion again, with a nice head start because the natives were set back by the fire. 





12 days post burn
Notice that the spacing between shoots is nearly two feet or more. To my eye it appears that most of these new shoots are either a grass, some trees, and a few Eurasian weed species. Prior to the fire this area had a high percentage of native prairie forbs. The timing of this fire was not good. *It is wrong to assume ALL fires when ever they happen are 'good' for the prairie*. This should have been a small 10 acre burn and it was negligently allowed to race through nearly 500 acres. 






looking a little to the right standing at roughly the same spot last year





These are the non-orchid 'forbs' and their insect polinators I am so worried about, because without their pollinators, they are as good as extinct. 













note the native bumble bee on the aster


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## likespaphs (Apr 30, 2010)

love that gentian.
dear gentian: please survive the fire. thank you


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## Kevin (Apr 30, 2010)

Thanks for updating us, Leo. I'm wondering if you could comment on how things would be different if this would have been a natural fire, as opposed to a 'controlled' burn (althought it seem that in this case, it was not controlled). Are natural fires ever 'too hot'? It seems odd that any native species would be harmed by something that is part of the natural state of the ecosystem. Hundreds of years ago, there were not the non-native species we have now. Would the situation here be different if there were no non-native species present?


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## Leo Schordje (Apr 30, 2010)

----> Kevin, as I said earlier, management of *SMALL ISLAND REMNANTS of original habitat is VERY DIFFERENT *than what used to happen in nature. Our parks are so small compared to the original 'natural' conditions pre-Columbus time that *to talk 'natural' management is nonsense. * This is an artificial situation created by humans and must be managed by humans who accept the fact that they have to take on this responsibility of preserving these small islands of habitat. These islands of habitat have already been reduced below the minimum size needed to be self sustaining. This is *NOT A NATURAL SYSTEM ANY MORE*. Has not been a natural system for more than 100 years. We are saving these little life boats of habitat for our future, perhaps in the hopes that once again in the future prairie acreage will be measured in the tens of millions of acres as in the days of old, rather than in the low thousands of acres. 

Volcanoes, Fire, Flood, Earthquake, Tornado, Hurricane, Drought, all are natural events, and *yes, natural events can be harmful to SMALL SPECIFIC LOCATIONS.* Look at those poor cats that got caught at Pompei. Yeah, the ecosystem recovered, why a few hundred years later you couldn't tell the volcano had erupted. Great vineyards are there today. 

When the acreage of dunelands and dune prairies were in the millions of acres, stretching in an unbroken band for the 1800 miles around the shore of Lake Michigan, if a fire was too hot in one spot, no big deal, new recruits would recolonize in short order. Today the remaining acreage of preserved habitat is too small, the resiliance of the ecosystem is no longer there. 

TODAY, there is this tiny little island of ecosystem, isolated by nearly 100 miles from any similar ecosystem. There is no place from which to recruit the species whose populations were reduced or expriated by the over zealous burning. *Man reduced these ecosystems below robust sustainability, so man must manage them carefully if they are to persist.*


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## Kyle (Apr 30, 2010)

Thistles are one of the quickest plants to come back. The sites I manage have issues with Canada thistle. I like the burn then spray tactic. Spot spraying those thistles now with a broad leaf herbicide will knock them back hard. The reason why the non native plants are of concern is becasue of how fast they recover and grow. 

The general theory of managing prairie iwith spring fires is as follows: Perienial grasses and plants store energy in thier root over winter. In the spring they use that energy to make new leaves, and eventually seeds. At a certain point, the plant has grown ehough leaves to begin putting energy back into the roots for the next year. Befroe this point, the plants energy reservs keep getting lower (think upside down bell-curve). Ideally, burns are timed for when the undesireable plants (usually cool season grasses and forbs) have used up most of thier reserves. We burn thier leaves, so they have to use the little bit of reserves they have left to gorw new leaves, furthur weakening the plant. In the man time, the native grasses have yet to emerge from the soil. This gives them a competative advantage. Thats the gist of it. There s other reasons like removing thatch, but the timing issue has to do with weakening undesirable species. 

On the supject of fire temperature. There can be negative effects on the soil and soil organisms (and seeds and plants) if the fire does not move fast enough and there is lots of fuel. Also, the first step of a controlled burn is allowing the fire to burn backwards, into the wind. This is called a back burn. IT can get to hot, becasue of the speed of the fire. When a fire burns to hot, the ground is left white. From you picture and you description of the conditions on the day of the fire, I suspect it was not a very hot fire. The picture with the thistle show oak leaves and twigs which have not burned. A fire which burns too hot, burns everything. I have only seen this once or twice in the dozens of burns I have particiapted in.

Kyle


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## Scooby5757 (May 17, 2010)

Any update on how things are looking out there?


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## Kyle (Aug 14, 2012)

Hi Leo, how does the area look today?

Kyle


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## Leo Schordje (Aug 14, 2012)

Things are not looking good, yes, there is green, but between the fire and the subsequent drought this year, it is not a healthy prairie any more. Grasses and asters and goldenrod are abundant. Eurasian weeds are abundant. Lots of buck thorn, dandelions & thistle. 

This last 2 years have seen absolutely no gentians, no Platanthera, only one or two Spiranthes, as opposed to the hundreds I've seen in the area in the past. Butterfly weed, the orange flowered Asclepias is greatly reduced. None of the narrow leaved milkweed (rare originally, now I can't find any). All in all the park is in serious decline. 

The good news is the park has banned the group of volunteers who insisted on setting this fire from the park. From now on this park will only be burned by park service employees. Bad news is that the state of IL has been curtailing funding. The south unit of the park did not open for much of the year do to lack of funds. 

We'll see what the future brings. I will take some pictures, maybe best to do a survey next year, especially if it is a little wetter. Weather was so strange in spring with unusual warmth in March-April and then unusual cold April-May. Followed by a very, very dry drought. Rain has fallen in August, but we are at least 12 inches below normal in our rainfall for the year. All the little damp low spots between old dunes are bone dry this year. Cattails have even died in some low areas, dried out. So this is not a good year to really evaluate just how bad the fire was for these plant populations. There definitely seem to be some whole species missing and many while present are in seriously reduced numbers. AND worse, the Eurasian non-natives had held their own or perhaps have even expanded. Small remnant populations are easily destroyed.


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