Spring cleaning happens not only inside homes, but also outdoors in our parks and in our rural areas, as public conservation groups will be starting prescribed burning over the next few months.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources announced that prescribed burning will be taking place at Brushy Creek State Recreation Area from mid-March through May.

Residents who live in the area close to Brushy Creek or any of the parks need to be aware that this may happen without much notice.

“We normally burn from 30 acres to 200 acres per year, if the weather allows,” said Brian Lammers, director of the Hamilton County Conservation office.

“We’ll start with the smaller burns and check to make sure all our equipment works,” he explained,” The burning takes a certain temperature, wind speed, the ceiling height of the smoke, so all the conditions have to be correct.”

It’s really hard to give a lot of notice, he explained.

Detailed plans are created for each burn area and safety is always the No. 1 consideration in the timing and design of each burn. Prescribed burns typically begin in mid- to late morning and are completed by late afternoon or early evening. Burns will be conducted on a day that meets the objectives and weather conditions defined in the burn plan.

Fire is a vital land management tool that is used to improve wildlife habitat, control invasive plant species, restore and maintain native plant communities and reduce wildfire potential.

Smoke produced from these controlled burns will be highly visible and some smoke may be dispersed over long distances.

“We pick the springtime, because the unwanted vegetation is developing the root system and get very aggressive, and the fire will kill or deter it.

“But it also will stimulate the prairie forbes, or the prairie flowers and this regenerates them,” Lammers continued. “They need a certain heat source to do what they need to do. The heat actually helps that out. This is basically why we burn.”