On November 22, 2003, we tried something a bit unique for a land trust.  We organized a prescribed burn for sections of the bog.  This was pulled together by Dave Gumbart (land trust director and PMNA Committee member).  On hand were volunteers from the Killingworth Fire Department (Fred Dudek - chief - and Al Chapman), the Killingworth Junior Fire Department, Emery Gluck (the "burn boss", and a volunteer firefighter with the Town of Lebanon), Richard Albrecht (our town's Open Burning Official), and directors from the KLCT (Bruce Dodson, Robert Broach, Andy Annino, John Himmelman).  In addition to Emery, who ran the show, Dave and Andy had participated in burns before.

Why burn the bog?  Well, part of our job as stewards of this area is to keep down the growth of woody vegetation and invasive plants that compete with the bog plants that make this habitat special.  In the past we have done this by mowing and hand-weeding.  A controlled burn could achieve the same results, possibly better, with less effort.

We chose three test areas to burn so we could see the impact this measure of maintenance would have.

From the onset, our biggest concern lay more in the scenario of the bog not burning than in the fire getting out of control.  However, we were more than well covered to prevent the latter.  The day was sunny and dry, and we were optimistic.  But as it turned out, most of the area did not burn as vigorously as we had hoped.  The test area with the highest concentration of orchids did burn fairly well and we marked it off to gauge the effect next spring.

Thank you to all you volunteers who gave up a valuable Saturday in your busy schedules.  And especially to Dave Gumbart, who got the ball rolling and Emery Gluck, who provided his vast knowledge of prescribed burns.

Postscript:  As of Autumn 2004, the plants in the test area did no worse than those in the surrounding areas.  The orchids and other rare plants did very well this year.  The decision to burn or not to burn will now be a matter of our own convenience, since we do not need to be concerned about negative effects on the flora should we go this route.

Emery Gluck (left) briefing the crew before the burn.  Killingworth Junior Volunteer FD on left.  Bruce Dodson, KLCT president in background.

BOG'S ABURNIN'

The briefing continues.  Everyone has to know exactly what to expect before the flames are lit.  Bob Broach (KLCT director) behind Emery.  Richard Albrecht. Open Burning Official, back right, Fred Dudek (Fire Chief), to his right.

Andy Aninno (KLCT director - furthest from viewer) sets fire to a scrubby corner of the bog.