Prescribed burns in High Park and Lambton park

City conducts prescribed burns to help native species grow better.

Thestar.com
April 18, 2017
By Hina Alam

White smoke enveloped parts of Lambton Park, obscuring leafless trees and blue skies Tuesday.

As the smoke cleared it showed patches of black ground where flames had licked away at twigs, winter grass and litter.

“Years and years ago wild fires occurred naturally,” said Ray Vendrig, manager of the Urban Forest Renewal program. “Burning allows species to thrive, it releases seed, helps to remove invasive species, and releases nutrients so native species can grow.”

Vendrig was overseeing the prescribed burn at Lambton and High Parks on Tuesday.

Two hectares in Lambton Park and four hectares in High Park were burned.

Pink signs with black lettering posted by the road warned people of the burn.

One of the unique things about Lambton Park is the black oak savannah habitat, which is extremely rare, Vendrig said. At one time, about 100 years ago, black oak savannahs were more prevalent in the province but with the passage of time and development, only a few fragments of this ecosystem have been left in the province, just about one per cent of the original pre-settlement cover, he said. The other places in the city where one can see black oak savannah is in South Humber Park and High Park.

Vendrig said black oak savannah thrive under the burn.

The other plant species that do well because of the fire include some grasses, rose species and blueberry plants.

Prescribed burning requires abundant planning and tracking of weather conditions.

In the case of the burn at Lambton Park, the wind and weather conditions were tracked for about three weeks.

“They were up and down and nerve wracking and unpredictable,” said Fire Boss Jason Sickel, who was in charge of the prescribed burn.

The conditions for a perfect burn include warm, sunny days where the ground absorbs heat, which helps fire spread quickly. The burn is restricted to area that has litter and is carefully monitored.

Burning also helps get rid of invasive species, brought in by people and pets, said Thomas Schiks, a doctoral student from the Fire Management Systems Lab at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Forestry. Schiks was there to observe the burn.

It is far more economical to burn invasive species than to have them removed, he said.

Vendrig explained that the burn helps release nutrients and coupled with rain and warmth, would help faster and better growth of trees.

“It will be green again in two or three weeks,” he said. “You wouldn’t even know there was a fire here.”