Prescribed Prairie Burning at Sauk Valley Community College

By Matthew Long

A lot of people don’t know that Sauk Valley Community College actually has a prairie. It is located on the Route 2 side of SVCC. This interesting landmark on Sauks property is home to bees, butterflies, and other types of interesting wildlife. On Saturday, April 9th, the prairie was slightly burned, however instead of this being a bad thing, this is part of normal prairie  maintenance. There are multiple reasons to burn a prairie, and Sauk Professor Rachel Brunner was kind enough to talk to me about the prairie burning. 

According to Rachel Brunner, who is in charge of the committee that takes care of the prairie, “The purpose of burning a prairie is three-fold. Removal of dead plant build up, knocking back exotic/non-native plants and shrubs, and regeneration of new plants.” While burning the prairie sounds scary, it is actually a very routine and normal procedure in prairie maintenance. When done safely, it can actually help the prairie ecosystem thrive. Again, Brunner, “Some seeds actually require “scarification” via fire in order for them to sprout!” Scarification, according to American Meadows, is the weakening of the seed coating meant to speed up germination. This is often done using heat. At the Sauk Prairie, it is done using fire. Prescribed burning is also done to prevent non-native plants from taking nutrients from native plants. 

The Sauk Prairie was founded in the 1980’s  by Professor Zollie Hall, a biology professor. According to Rachel Brunner, it has been a point of contention at the school. “Over the years, the school has had varying attitudes about the prairie, with some being very supportive of trying to maintain and develop the prairie, and others thinking a lawn would be better.”.Again, according to Rachel Brunner, current Sauk president, Dr. Dave Hellmich, has been very supportive of the prairie and all the wildlife that it brings to Sauk.