Nearly 20 firefighters conducted a controlled burn Wednesday at a Thurston County prairie to kill invasive weeds and restore native plants.
The prescribed burn, a joint coordination between the Center for Natural Lands Management and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, was ignited at Mazama Meadows, a 134-acre Rochester flatland owned by CNLM.
This was the first controlled burn at Mazama. The plan was to blaze 34 acres. Weather, wind direction, humidity and smoke management — the brush is flanked by residential housing on both sides — control if that quota is met.
“It is kind of like a blank slate,” said CNLM restoration specialist Ben Harbaugh. “This is overwhelmingly invasive species, so the fire re-sets it so we can give the natives that competitive advantage. Also, a lot of native species are adapted to regrow after fires, whereas the invasive species are not adapted toward fire.”
The primary objective of the fire is to kill Scotch broom, an invasive weed from Europe that sabotages the habitats of insects, birds and gophers, CNLM Conservation Assistant Carola Tejeda said.