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Prairie burn healthy for ecosystem, lessons for students

News by News
May 5, 2016
in News, St. Joseph
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Prairie burn healthy for ecosystem, lessons for students

photo by Frank Lee Workers from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph around noon May 4 to maintain the ecosystem as students, teachers and spectators watch from a safe distance.

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by Frank Lee

operations@thenewsleaders.com

Smoke and fire surrounded Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph on May 4, but instead of driving people away, the controlled burn of the landscape attracted a large crowd.

Principal Laurie Putnam even encouraged students, parents and the public to “enjoy the beauty and excitement” of the prairie burn at the 36-acre site off Jade Road.

“The prairie surrounds us on three sides,” Putnam said. “And the burn is being done to maintain the health of the prairie. It’s vital for this type of ecosystem that it burn every couple of years, and we are overdue by almost three years, so it’s been about five years since our last burn.”

Kennedy Community School serves students in preschool and kindergarten through eighth grade and is home of the Colts, so school officials wanted to make the prairie burn a teaching moment.

“We have no safety concerns at all,” Putnam said as the fire went on around the school with students present. “Additionally, we also turn off our air intake system so no particulate enters the building and so students with compromised airways aren’t in any way impacted negatively.”

Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, secured the fire permit from the city for the burn, which was expected to last between two to three hours.

“I think they’re perfect,” Burn Boss Tyler Thorndal said of the weather conditions just minutes before the burn began. “We have a good steady wind – the wind is not too high – and we have complete control over it the entire time.”

There was a north wind at 19 mph the day of the burn, which started on the south end of the school property because of the north wind, according to Thorndal.

“We were hoping to do it during the day,” Putnam said. “Our students have spent a considerable amount of time learning about the prairie ecosystem, and we want them to be able to experience seeing it. Since they’ve learned so much about it, you want them to be here when it happens.”

The Sauk River Watershed District will pay for the prairie burn and its staff will be treating the remaining elm trees after the burn, which is only the second time since construction of the school was completed.

“They have been our partners in this,” Putnam said of the $3,000 cost to burn the prairie, which will recover in a couple of weeks. “The only way we’re getting this to happen is through grant funding they’ve secured.”

The watershed district will also provide Kennedy Community School with an extensive collection of garden tools for future use, according to Adam Hjelm, community education outreach coordinator for the SRWD.

“It was fun and challenging going from one grade level to another speaking in regards to the upcoming prairie burn,” Hjelm said before the burn. “It’s easy to tell some teachers have spent a great deal of time with their students discussing the project.”

As part of the show-and-tell in the classrooms, Hjelm brought in wings and fur from animals whose natural habitat is the prairie and talked to students about the ecosystem, according to Putnam, who said those animals naturally vacate the area during the burn.

“All of our teachers have been teaching it in various ways,” Putnam said. “The younger kids have picture books they have been reading, and there have been corresponding videos we’ve shown from the Discovery Channel.”

The SRWD will put a $3,000 placeholder in its budget for the next four years (2017-20) to go toward the prairie and garden areas at Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph, Hjelm said.

“This isn’t guaranteed funding, but chances are it will continue to be available,” Hjelm said. “We can work out the details, but it will just be a request for funding each year itemizing what the funds will be used for in regards to the prairie and garden at Kennedy.”

The water district plans to provide Kennedy Community School with an extensive collection of garden tools for future use, such as shovels, rakes, trowels and more.

“We will see a return of species we haven’t seen in a while because the prairie is so overgrown, so it’s actually way better for the animals, too,” Putnam said of the prairie burn.

photo by Frank Lee Workers from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph around noon May 4 to maintain the ecosystem as students, teachers and spectators watch from a safe distance.
photo by Frank Lee
Workers from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph around noon May 4 to maintain the ecosystem as students, teachers and spectators watch from a safe distance.
photo by Frank Lee Workers from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph around noon May 4 to maintain the ecosystem as students, teachers and spectators watch from a safe distance.
photo by Frank Lee
Workers from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph around noon May 4 to maintain the ecosystem as students, teachers and spectators watch from a safe distance.
photo by Frank Lee Workers from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph around noon May 4 to maintain the ecosystem as students, teachers and spectators watch from a safe distance.
photo by Frank Lee
Workers from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph around noon May 4 to maintain the ecosystem as students, teachers and spectators watch from a safe distance.
photo by Frank Lee Workers from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph around noon May 4 to maintain the ecosystem as students, teachers and spectators watch from a safe distance.
photo by Frank Lee
Workers from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph around noon May 4 to maintain the ecosystem as students, teachers and spectators watch from a safe distance.
photo by Frank Lee Jamie Vassar from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, preps a vehicle and its tank that are used to burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph on May 4 to maintain the ecosystem.
photo by Frank Lee
Jamie Vassar from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, preps a vehicle and its tank that were used to burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph on May 4 to maintain the ecosystem.
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