April 07, 2008
Step one (above): The burn on April 5 starts with the safety lecture from Stuart Allison, associate professor of biology and Green Oaks director. Step back (right): Allison uses a kerosene torch to start the fire in Shepard Prairie, named for noted biologist Paul Shepard, who helped begin restoration at Green Oaks in 1953. | 
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Students help start (left) and control (above) the spread of the fire through the three forest-bordered totaling about seven acres, that were burned this year. Each restored prairie at Green Oaks is burned once in three years. |  |  | | More than 75 students worked at the burn, clearing tree limbs from the prairie and from trails through the extensive forest at Green Oaks. |  |  | | The prairie burn inspires artists of all kinds: personal (above left), visual (above right), kinetic and athletic (below), and photographic (bottom row). |  |  | 
| The prairie burn helps restore native plant species, which tend to be more fire-resistant than non-native species; among the sections burned in 2008 was the third-oldest restored prairie in the Midwest. But for the invasive species — autumn olive, etc. — "Death, the severe master, invites them to dance..." 
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Related Links
Biology Program Green Oaks Home
History of Green Oaks
Green Oaks Term Recipe for Restored Prairie
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Contact
Peter
Bailley
news@knox.edu
309 341 7337
Prairie burn photography by Thien Do
and Peter Bailley.
Pics from prior burns:
2007
2005
2004
2003
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