The Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry recently awarded 16 projects in the state with grant money to support prescribed fire, and the Cincinnati Nature Center was one of the benefactors.
“Providing our partners with the right equipment is key to ensuring healthy ecosystems for the future,” Dan Balser, Division of Forestry Chief, said, in a press release. “We are pleased that these communities will now have these additional tools to utilize in an important forest management technique.”
The $40,773 in grant money across the 16 projects was was made possible through the Prescribed Fire Supplies, Tools, Education, and Personal Protective Equipment Grant program, awarded to land management agencies in Clermont, Butler, Cuyahoga, Erie, Franklin, Hancock, Hardin, Lucas, Montgomery, Muskingum, Portage, Summit and Wood Counties.
With the grant money, the various agencies are able to build out and expand their prescribed fire programs. ODNR said they are permitted to purchase personal protective equipment, radios, tools, weather data devices, pumps, hoses and nozzles.
ODNR receives the STEP grant funding through the United States Forest Service.
The Nature Center will receive a matching grant in the amount of $2,609.46, with a total cost for the supplies and equipment at $5,218.93.
Prescribed fire is one of those counterintuitive ideas: Using fire to help maintain important habits and ecosystems. For example, ODNR said prairie restoration projects are dependent upon disturbance to thrive and prescribed fire has “proven to be the most effective technique to promote growth and effective establishment of native prairie species.”
In addition, oak/hickory forests rely on fire disturbance to control the growth of other species so that oak seedlings can become established and grow into a dominant species, ODNR said.
Mary Jo McClain, grants and major gifts manager, said this is third of such grants they’ve received from the STEP Grant program.
When applying to the grant, McClain said they understand that the STEP funding is a matching grant, which is why they must allocate a portion of the Nature Center’s conservation budget to cover half of the expenses that are submitted in the proposal.
McClain said “surprisingly,” something she appreciates as a grant writer, is that the grant writing process actually isn’t all that arduous. The application is fairly simple because of its very specific intent to solely fund prescribed burns, she said.
Thanks to the three grants from the STEP program, McClain said they’ve been able to grow the burn program from managing 40 acres to over 145 through the prescribed burns. The first grant in 2018 helped to solidify the program.
“Because of this, we have seen positive changes in plant diversity as well as increases in the number of native grasses and forbs that are filling in. This is critical as native forbs attract many pollinators, including bees and butterflies,” she said.
Olivia Espinoza, natural areas manager with the Nature Center, explained that the majority of their management occurs in the forests and prairies at the Nature Center.
“Much of our land management practices involve removing invasive plant species. During the growing season we can manage them by pulling, spraying, mowing or cutting, but during the dormant season we are typically cutting and treating stumps to prevent regrowth,” Espinoza said.
Different plants potentially require a different management strategy, such as the three acres of an autumn olive monoculture, which Espinoza said required renting a forestry shredder for the first time.
Prescribed fire, another management tool, is overseen by Espinoza, who is an Ohio Prescribed Fire Manager, or “burn boss.” She’s also working toward getting her Red Card, which is an interagency certification.
Currently, the Nature Center burns their prairies, but Espinoza said they have plans for a woodland unit this spring and will continue to burn other woodland units moving forward.
Espinoza agreed with the idea that burning seems like a counterintuitive thing.
“One might assume that burning plants would destroy them when in fact our native plants are adapted to burning. Their root systems are protected because they are so extensive and when fire runs across the landscape in this controlled fashion the soil doesn’t get hot enough to kill the roots. They also thrive off of the charred material that acts as a fertilizer,” she explained.
Once the dead thatch material is removed, that allows sunlight to penetrate and warm the soil, stimulating seed germination.
“All really amazing processes!” Espinoza added, which includes being mindful of weather forecasts.
As an example of “coordinating” with the weather, Espinoza said it’s tough to get a fire started with high relative humidity, but if the temps are higher and she has enough wind, “I can probably make it happen.”
Fire becomes more unpredictable with low RH and high winds, so that becomes one of those “it’s a go or no-go” situations.
“The National Weather Association will also issue a red flag warning for days where there is a high chance for wildfire activity. The weather is so unpredictable at times and I have been in situations where I have everything and everyone ready to go and we have to cancel right there. It’s unfortunate but we know this going into it,” Espinoza said.
The complexity of prescribed fire as a management technique means that Espinoza is always learning more about it, but the results have been good so far, improving the health of the prairie ecosystems, she said.
One data point? The volunteer butterfly monitoring team recorded its best year ever in 2021 for number of butterflies and other species — such thriving grasslands are an important habit for the flourishing of butterflies.
“This is very exciting and we continue to research to guide our management practices,” Espinoza said.
Money from the grant is going toward specialized PPE and equipment that the Nature Center doesn’t have, but in Espinoza’s research, would be beneficial to both the burn program and outside of the program.
In prior years with other grant money, Espinoza said they were able to purchase a new 100g sprayer that is used for emergency water during burns, but we are also able to use it while managing invasive plants species during other times of the year.
Two-way radios are another example. She said they use them throughout the year for different projects.
But obviously, she said there are certain things within the burn program not applicable to use outside the program, such as nomex suits, helmets, shrouds, drip torches and so forth.
Aside from more PPE, the grant money this year will go toward equipment to cut lines for woodland units and manage the fire line, an alternative weather data collector, med and fireline packs, stands for roads signs and more.