The National Park Service is planning four prescribed fires this fall at Indiana Dunes National Park. Approximately 689 acres are scheduled to be burned. Fire is used as a tool for the park’s long-term restoration and hazard fuel reduction efforts.
Near Beverly Shores, the park's fire staff plans to burn 117 acres of park property in and around the Dunewood Campground. Burning vegetation and fuels in the campground area in the fall helps reduce the threat of wildfires for the next camping season.
Also, in Beverly Shores, the park will burn 366 acres directly east of East State Park Road, north of the Calumet Trail and west of Broadway Avenue. Burning in this area is part of natural resources restoration and wildland fuels reduction.
Adjacent to the Cowles Bog area just south of Dune Acres, park staff will burn 25 acres as part of the restoration efforts for the greater Cowles Bog area.
In Hobart, the National Park Service plans to burn 181 acres immediately west of Lake George on either side of the Oak Savanah Trail. Burning this area has been essential in restoration of the area to its natural Black Oak Savana ecotype and is part of a larger, multi-agency restoration effort ongoing in the Hobart Nature District. A map of all the planned prescribed fires for this fall can be found at https://bit.ly/INDUFall2021Fires
Residents of Porter County may sign up to receive prescribed fire notifications through Porter County’s “Alert Porter County" system. As part of the program, residents can sign up to receive a text message, email or voice message when prescribed fires are happening at Indiana Dunes National Park. Go to www.smart911.com to sign-up for this free service or download the Smart911 app for your smartphone. Residents of Lake County can also sign up to receive notifications using the same system. Additionally, the national park announces prescribed fire activity on its Facebook page.
The prescribed fire program at Indiana Dunes National Park is conducted by trained and experienced National Park Service fire personnel. Smoke dispersal is a primary concern and park staff will do everything possible to limit smoke in the area by monitoring wind and atmospheric conditions prior to ignitions. However, smoke drifting in and around park lands and roadways is possible.
Clear management goals and objectives have been established for each burn unit. Before burning, a designated set of conditions must exist including ideal air temperature, wind speed and direction, and relative humidity. Weather conditions will be monitored throughout the duration of the burn to ensure the fire is completed safely.
www.nps.gov
Indiana Dunes National Park is one of 423 units of the National Park System ranging from Yellowstone to the Statue of Liberty. Located in Northwest Indiana, the park includes 15 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and 15,000 acres of biodiverse beaches, woods, prairies, and wetlands. Up to 3 million visitors come to the Indiana Dunes each year.
Tags: prescribed burns fire nps fire beverly shores cowles bog fire prevention
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
