Prairie Fires 

•April 17, 2024•

by Janet Roney

Have you ever seen a prairie fire?  If it’s a dry day with a good wind, it will make a believer out of you. Flames leap into the air forty or fifty feet, and it rushes like mad across the land, taking about twenty minutes or less to burn twenty acres, depending on the speed of the wind.    

We know this because for about twenty years in early spring we have burned our prairie on our 20 acres of CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) land along route 32 between Sullivan and Lovington.  Annual fires help maintain the prairie for invasive species are destroyed and nutrients are released that stimulate new growth.  The deep rooted prairie grass prevents soil erosion and retards movement of agricultural chemicals into the stream that runs through it.    

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