Environmental Issues in Northern Ontario
Burwash has unique grasslands
- submitted by Debbie Sauve
When the fire crew arrived in Burwash with
their noisy trucks, a group of sandhill cranes cracked the morning air
with their distinct call of urgency.
The elk were nowhere to be found. The
elusive creatures were hidden away deep in the woodlands in wait for the
fresh grasses, while the raptors perched high in the trees anxious for
the rodents to emerge from their holes once the smoke cleared.
Over the dates of April 13 and 14, the
Ministry of Natural Resources in partnership with the local chapter of
the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation conducted a 120-hectare prescribed
burn on the Burwash lands.
“The purpose of the burn is habitat
management,” said MNR Area Biologist Mike Hall. “These fields are home
to a number of species and I would like to see it maintained. Grasslands
are a source of habitation that we do not have a lot of in the Sudbury
area or throughout the province for that matter.”
The Burwash property was historically
utilized as a prison farm. Due to this fact, the fields were at one time
open and used for grazing and growing crops. Today, many of the fields
have begun to grow over with tress and brush.
“The grasslands make Burwash quite unique in
this area,” Hall said. “This is one of the reasons that we are trying to
maintain it in that sort of open condition.”
The burn will help maintain the habitat in
the long-term, and in the short-term it will revitalize some of the
plant growth. When the dead grass from the previous year presses down on
the ground it inhibits other plant species from growing up through it.
“The more palatable ones [plants], the ones
that are really preferred by wildlife, sometimes do not have the ability
to push up through,” Hall continued. “The burning of the dead grass
provides the opportunity for those grasses and plants to come back to
life.”
The burned area was decided on by the MNR in
accordance with the RMEF, after prioritizing where they wanted to
realize the benefits of the burn.
“What I would like to do is make the field
more attractive to the animals away from the highway so that large
animals like deer, moose and elk are not near the highway to lessen the
chance of vehicle collision,” Hall said.
Further to this, however, the MNR also paid
close attention to the smaller animals that would be affected by the
burn.
Perching sticks were installed, for
instance, for birds that live in the area, like the rare Le Conte’s
Sparrow.
Nonetheless, when the rain falls on Burwash
this year, it will bring new life to all of the species that call the
grasslands home. The elk, deer and moose will come out of hiding to
graze the fields, the raptors will sail the sky in the hunt for food,
and the fertility of the land will be preserved for another year.
This story was originally published
in the Northern Life
