08/25/2006

Short-term burns have lasting impact on habitat

By
Record-Eagle staff writer

Record-Eagle/Sheri McWhirter
Firefighter Keith Murphy walks along a two-track road at Seney National Wildlife Refuge with a fire drip torch.

SENEY — Flames crackled among dried grasses and underbrush as firefighter Keith Murphy walked along a two-track road at Seney National Wildlife Refuge.

He carried a drip torch that threw fire onto the ground around his ankles.

"No, I don't enjoy my job at all," he said, followed by a grin and sarcastic chuckle.

Smoke swirled in the distance, where another group of firefighters shot flares onto a pine island to start a 90-acre prescribed burn in a wetland area of the Upper Peninsula refuge.

The red, white and jack pine trees smoked, smoldered and firefighters then ignited a fire line on another side of the marsh, reigning in the flames from the start.

Tracy Casselman, Seney refuge manager, said intentionally ignited fires serve two purposes: to regenerate wildlife habitat and reduce built-up organic fuel loads on the forest floor after a 90-year history of wildfire suppression in the area.

On a hot, humid afternoon in late July, the firefighters planned to burn the 90-acre chunk.

"Hopefully, we can open it back up to the public tomorrow by noon," said refuge fire specialist Gary Lindsay.

About 6,000 acres are part of prescribed burns every year at the refuge, a vast and wild place renowned as a bird sanctuary and habitat for other animals.

Eagles, osprey, Sharp-tailed grouse, loons, Trumpeter swans, Sandhill cranes, various ducks and other migratory birds thrive on the 95,000-acre refuge that was established in 1935. Other species often spotted there include beavers, bobcats and bears to the occasional wolf and moose.

"As far as burning this stuff, making better habitat here, I didn't realize how much it can do," said firefighter Steve Schummer, now in his second fire season at Seney.

Flames quickly spread along the side of the road. Winds from both lakes Michigan and Superior converged over the area that July afternoon, so firefighters had to stay mindful of weather conditions, Lindsay said.

But it was an upgrade to national fire preparedness level five that occurred after the prescribed fire began that threatened the day's operation. That's when several geographic areas of the country have wildfires burning with the potential to exhaust fire agency resources, he said.

"The best thing to do is to finish burning it up today, rather than trying to put it out," Lindsay said. "We've got a box around it, so the safest thing is to burn out that box. What it means is we won't be burning tomorrow."

Seney's landscape has a long history of human alterations, including logging clear cuts, an elaborate system of constructed ditches for farming attempts, and finally, a network of roads, dykes, dams and 7,000 acres of water pools constructed to lure migrating birds and various waterfowl.

Greg and Kim Fitzpatrick, of Davisburg, south of Flint, brought their sons, Mark, 13, and Evan, 10, on a week-long cabin retreat to the Upper Peninsula. They looked at an osprey nest through a viewing scope and rambled around the refuge visitor's center, which has about 88,000 tourists annually.

"We saw the osprey fly up and feed the chick," Mark said.

His mother talked about how she appreciated her family's visit to Seney and all the creatures they were able to spot on a self-guided driving tour.

"I like the wildlife and wilderness and the fact that this is a preserve," she said, before she quickly broke off, pointed at a nearby pond and got her children's attention.

"Look boys, see the beaver swimming right there? Cool, huh?"