Science & Nature
Some Chicago Parks Have Burned to the Ground, and That’s a Good Thing
Winnemac Park's natural area the day after the Chicago Park District conducted a controlled burn, Dec. 8, 2024. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
Winnemac Park's “pocket prairie” burned to the ground, and its stewards cheered as vegetation went up in flames.
What? Why?
Turns out, to rejuvenate a prairie, you’ve got to “destroy” it first.
The natural area, located in the Ravenswood neighborhood, had been on the Chicago Park District’s waiting list for a prescribed fire and on Dec. 7, conditions were ripe.
River Park, on the border between Lincoln Square and Albany Park, also burned in December, and its natural area along the North Branch of the Chicago River is still giving off whiffs of a campfire.
The charred ground might look post-apocalyptic at the moment, but come spring the scene will be bursting with new life — promoted by fire.
Fires help knock back non-native invasive species, return nutrients to the soil in the form of all that burned organic matter, and promote germination of native seeds. Burns also allow sunlight to reach ground previously shrouded by plants.
Video: Winnemac Park in Ravenswood, following a prescribed burn. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
These controlled fires have long been a management technique for prairie ecosystems, practiced first by indigenous peoples and more recently adopted by restoration ecologists.
All told, the Park District could burn roughly 140 acres of natural areas in the 2024-25 season, which runs from November through April.
Every year, the district comes up with a list of approximately 30 parks that could receive burns, based on ecological need and when the site was last burned. Ideally, sites would be burned every two to three years, but given the district’s capacity and changeable weather conditions, that goal is difficult to achieve, according to spokesperson Irene Tostado.
“Some years we burn a handful of sites, other years we burn 10 to 20,” Tostado told WTTW News via email.
The spring burn window tends to be longer than fall’s, she said, but conditions have been more favorable this autumn than in recent years. Wind direction and speed, relative humidity and temperature have aligned.
So far, the district has had nearly doubled the number of burn days in 2024 — nine — than in fall 2022, when it only eked out five fall burn days, according to Tostado.
Aside from weather, another factor limiting the amount of burns conducted by agencies — be it the municipalities, forest preserve districts or the Illinois Department of Natural Resources — is the relatively small number of people qualified to supervise prescribed fires.
Several organizations, including Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves, are pushing to grow the ranks of “burn bosses,” which would lead to increased acreage receiving attention on a more regular basis.
The Illinois Prescribed Fire Council has information on burn crew training opportunities, and Morton Arboretum has courses starting up in February.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]