A mild winter means an earlier-than-usual start for Indiana Dunes National Park’s prescribed fire season.
“We’re a full month ahead of schedule, with the weak winter,” said Micah Bell, fire prevention and education specialist for the national park.
The park’s fire crew sets and controls fires in selected natural areas every spring and fall, to help restore the area’s native plants, open tree canopies and reduce the danger of wildfires.
This year’s first prescribed fire was scheduled for Saturday in 60 acres at Mnoke Prairie, in the town of Porter between U.S. 12 and U.S. 20.
Mnoke Prairie has been undergoing restoration efforts for more than 20 years and is one of the last tall-grass prairies in the region, the national park’s news release said.
Other controlled burns anticipated this spring include 16 acres around the Douglas Center for Environmental Education in Gary’s Miller area; 374 acres east of the Douglas Center, going east toward County Line Road along the north side of the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks; and 619 acres of the Cowles Dune area on the west and south side of the town of Dune Acres.
“Each burn is selected because of the terrain it’s on and what surrounds it,” Bell said. “Some days are better for burning some places than others, depending on the wind direction.”
The Cowles Dune area of dunes and small ponds is “one of the largest untouched tracts” in the national park, the national park’s news release says.
It’s named for Dr. Henry Chandler Cowles, a University of Chicago professor who developed the concept of plant succession during his studies in the Indiana dunes in the early 20th century.
The trail through that area ends at a Lake Michigan beach.
The park conducts a burn near the Douglas Center nearly every year to reduce the danger of wildfires there, Bell said.
He hopes to conduct this year’s burn there “sooner than later” because construction is expected to start soon on a new pedestrian bridge, going from the Douglas Center parking lot on the east side of Lake Street to the Douglas Center on the west side.
The Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education, seen on Thursday, March 23, 2023, will soon have a new pedestrian bridge from its parking lot. (Kyle Telechan for the Post-Tribune)
The original pedestrian bridge, built when the Douglas Center opened in 1987, was demolished in 2022 after the park determined its crumbling concrete made it unsafe.
Bruce Rowe, the national park’s public information officer and supervisory park ranger for interpretation and education, said the new bridge could be completed by July.
“We’re happy to have that work start,” Rowe said. “It’s been way too long.”
The Douglas Center itself closed for a time when the pedestrian bridge was closed, but it reopened last year after interior remodeling. School programs haven’t resumed there yet, however.
School programs will resume in the Douglas Center in the fall, Rowe said, after the pedestrian bridge is completed.
An online map of this spring’s planned prescribed fire areas is at https://bit.ly/Spring2024Fires
The national park announces its prescribed fire activity on its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/IndianaDunesNPS
Residents of Lake and Porter counties may sign up to receive prescribed fire notifications through the Smart 911 system. Go to www.smart911.com to sign up for emergency notifications, a private 911 safety profile, and a vulnerable needs registry.
Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
