Maybe you’ve seen pictures of a controlled burn swallowing a field. But, to get a true sense of its impact, you should really come out and feel the heat on your face.
Click here and register under Find a Program/Event, or call 440-286-9516, to get invited out to our “prescribed fire” this year at Frohring Meadows!
Register for the Fire in the Parks “Hotline” Call List to receive a call about this controlled fire sometime in late March or early April from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Frohring Meadows, 16780 Savage Road, Bainbridge Twp.
Controlled burning is a well-established best management practice used to maintain prairies. At Frohring Meadows, burning brush material away reduces weed species, propagates seeds dispersed in 2008, and creates an opportunity for supplemental seeding of additional grasses and forbs.
In addition to watching the fire set and burned out, call-listers will start their visit learning about fire ecology and the values of using this management tool from the staff of Geauga Park District’s Natural Resource Management Department.
This special opportunity is entirely weather dependent, and will not be called if weather conditions do not present themselves prior to the nesting season of grassland birds. Activities will start most likely in the late morning or early afternoon when conditions are optimal. Any portions off-trail will not be wheelchair/stroller accessible.
All controlled burns are conducted by an Ohio-certified prescribed fire manager and done according to prepared burns plan to ensure proper smoke dispersal. Signs will be posted for visitors as soon as conditions are conducive to burn; only affected trails will be closed during the time of the burn only. Neighbors, the local fire department, and local law enforcement will be notified directly.
If conditions are right this spring, Geauga Park District also hopes to utilize prescribed fire to manage property at Burton Wetlands Nature Preserve in Burton Township unrelated to the call list.
