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Frequent prescribed burns in forests help young oaks thrive, U of I study finds · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Frequent prescribe burns and forests help young oaks thrive. U
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  Speaker 1: of I study finds written by Emily Steel and University
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  Speaker 1: of Illinois Extension, This article is being read by an
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  Speaker 1: automated voice brought to you by Everlett. As winter comes
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  Speaker 1: to a close, many people look forward to warmer temperatures
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  Speaker 1: and spring blooms. But for land managers working to preserve
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  Speaker 1: or restore oak dominated forests, it is prescribed burn season.
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  Speaker 1: Fire brings more light into forests, which is crucial for
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  Speaker 1: young oak tree growth, but many land managers are concerned
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  Speaker 1: about how non native plants affect fire intensity and young
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  Speaker 1: tree survival rates. A new University of Illinois ban A
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  Speaker 1: Champagne study found that conducting more prescribed burns in forests
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  Speaker 1: with invasive grasses creates conditions that benefit young oak trees.
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  Speaker 1: Professor Jennifer M. Frederigo studies how ecosystems respond to environmental
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  Speaker 1: change from fire to disease, and said that land managers
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  Speaker 1: in southern Illinois working with large forest plots brought their
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  Speaker 1: concerns about fire and grass invasion affecting oak regeneration to
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  Speaker 1: her team. This was a real problem for land managers.
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  Speaker 1: Prescribed fire as the most effective tool they have to
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  Speaker 1: manage large areas. If fires having this unexpected, potentially adverse effect,
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  Speaker 1: it would be difficult for them to achieve their management objectives,
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  Speaker 1: said Frattigo, a researcher in the Department of Natural Resources
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  Speaker 1: and Environmental Sciences, part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer
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  Speaker 1: and Environmental Sciences at u of I, Illinois. Native oak
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  Speaker 1: hickory forests have adapted to survive fires and benefit from
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  Speaker 1: controlled burns that remove woody debris from the understory and
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  Speaker 1: create canopy gaps for more sunlight to reach the forest floor.
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  Speaker 1: This allows acorns to germinate and grow into future forests. However,
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  Speaker 1: the introduction of non native grasses into forest ecosystems has
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  Speaker 1: led to uncertainty about the behavior and effects of fire.
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  Speaker 1: Invasive grasses, such as Microstigium viminium, commonly known as stilt grass,
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  Speaker 1: can cover the forest floor and prevent native plants from growing.
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  Speaker 1: Stilt grass can also respond well to prescribe burns and
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  Speaker 1: add to the fuel load, leading to hotter and longer
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  Speaker 1: fires that can in turn create conditions for more invasive
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  Speaker 1: plants to thrive and harm native plants. To better understand
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  Speaker 1: how repeated prescribed fires in midwestern oak hickory forests affected
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  Speaker 1: invasive species, forests and oak regeneration. The researchers applied controlled
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  Speaker 1: burns in plots with young oak trees in the Shawnee
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  Speaker 1: National Forest in southern Illinois. They found that frequent fires
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  Speaker 1: increased light in the forest understory and reduced fire intensity.
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  Speaker 1: Almost twice as many young oak trees survived and re
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  Speaker 1: sprouted in plots that had been burnt more often as
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  Speaker 1: those with a single burn. Still, grass cover also decreased
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  Speaker 1: with more frequent fires. A lot of research has previously
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  Speaker 1: focused on the effects of one or two burns, Frederico said,
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  Speaker 1: this study demonstrates that we need a lot of fire
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  Speaker 1: for a long period of time to achieve the results
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  Speaker 1: that we want. Co author Dan Marshalla, at the time
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  Speaker 1: in NRIs graduate student, led much of the data collection
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  Speaker 1: and analysis. Our findings of the benefits of repeated fire
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  Speaker 1: for oak regeneration should boost the comp events of land
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  Speaker 1: managers who want to use prescribed fire to promote oaks
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  Speaker 1: but are wary about the presence of stiltgrass, he said,
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  Speaker 1: adding that further research is needed to understand the effect
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  Speaker 1: of repeated fire throughout stiltgrass's life cycle. As part of
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  Speaker 1: the study, University of Illinois foresters assisted with the controlled
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  Speaker 1: burns and collecting data. The Extension Forestry program works with
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  Speaker 1: forest landowners to increase their management skills and address challenges,
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  Speaker 1: including invasive species. The study supports the use of prescribed
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  Speaker 1: fire as a management practice for forests in Illinois, especially
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  Speaker 1: as a means to promote oak regeneration, said Forestry extension
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  Speaker 1: and research specialist Chris Evans, who supported the field research.
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  Speaker 1: The most interesting aspect was how repeated fire seemed to
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  Speaker 1: mitigate some of the negative impacts of stiltgrass. The paper,
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  Speaker 1: Increased fire occurrence benefits early oak regeneration and temperate deciduous
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  Speaker 1: forests in part by disrupting an invasive grass fire feedback,
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  Speaker 1: is published in the Journal of Apply to Cology Doi
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  Speaker 1: ten point one point one one Slash one thousand, three
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  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five minutes two thousand, six hundred and
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  Speaker 1: sixty four point seven zero two seventy nine. This research
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  Speaker 1: was made possible in part by HATCH funding from USDA's
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  Speaker 1: National Institute of Food and Agriculture. In the US Forest
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  Speaker 1: Service