Each spring and fall, the Forest Preserve District uses prescribed fire to cleanse the preserves of invasive species that harm the ecosystem and choke out native plants.

To elaborate on this crucial land management tool used by the Forest Preserve's Conservation Department, area residents are being invited to attend a program called Why We Burn from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, at the Sugar Creek Administration Center in Joliet. Registration is required for the free, all-ages program. Register online or call 815-727-8700.

Nick Budde, the Forest Preserve’s ecology coordinator, will present the program.

“I hope to give people a better understanding as to why we need to carry out controlled burns in our remaining natural areas,” he said. 

Humans have been burning for thousands of years, but as development occurs and burning stops, native prairies are lost to a more densely wooded forest ecosystem. 

“And even those woodlands, which feature fire-adapted species such as oak trees, need regular fires to maintain their open structure and diverse assemblage of species,” Budde explained. “Only relatively recently in the last 150-200 years has fire stopped being a regular occurrence in Will County.”

The cessation of fire along with the destruction and degradation of the native landscape has left only a handful of sites that resemble functional, diverse natural areas.

“As land managers our job is to enhance the health and function of the few remaining natural areas; the most efficient tool we have for that is fire,” Budde said. “By reintroducing fire to these areas we are picking up where people left off 200 years ago, only today we are operating on a much smaller scale.”

The Why We Burn program is designed to educate the public about what they are seeing when a controlled burn is underway and there are flames, heat and smoke in a preserve.

“We are all in our yellow jackets with utility terrain vehicles and noisy water pumps, so it’s a multi-sensory experience just to witness,” Budde said. “With all that going on, people might wonder what was happening and why. So giving people some context for that from an ecological and land management perspective is important. It is also important that people understand that we do a lot of planning and site preparation before we show up to a site to carry out a controlled burn.”

Em Wilcher, the Forest Preserve’s recreation coordinator, also will attend the program. 

“I’m looking forward to giving residents the opportunity to ask questions after hearing about the cultural and historical context of prairie burning in our area,” she said. “People might be curious without any existing knowledge, so it’s hard to know what they might want to learn more about. After Nick’s presentation, I hope folks will have enough of a knowledge base to get their curiosity working a bit and to explore the themes he shares with follow-up questions and discussion.”