Silver Creek Conservation Area

RSVP HERE

Silver Creek is a 758 acre site that contains several different ecosystems, including prairie, savanna, and wetland habitats. This site has had many restoration projects since the first land purchase in 1989. See how fire has played an important role in these projects and also the challenges we have of implementing fire in the large wetland complex on site.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/6m8S7AB2SovLFnDc6

Jul 22, 2026, 8:30 am – 12:00 pm

Thornton-Lansing Road and Wampum Nature Preserves

Thornton-Lansing Road and Wampum Nature Preserves sit along the Calumet Beach Ridge, an elevated shoreline of Glacial Lake Chicago (a pro-glacial version of Lake Michigan) that formed roughly 11,800 to 11,000 years ago. As such the natural communities that developed here include an unique assemblage of high-quality wet sand prairies, sand seep, freshwater marsh, pin oak flatwoods, and black oak savannas. The sites were impacted by past attempts at farming and sand mining in the early 20th century and then by decades of fire suppression that led to the encroachment of trees and brush. Despite these past disturbances, the preserves retain some of the most conservative and rare plant species in Cook County.

The Forest Preserves’ first prescribed burn at Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserves was in 2001 and Wampum Nature Preserve in 2010. Portions of the preserves have been burned almost every year since. Despite regular fire, mechanical brush and tree removal was needed to address the over-abundance of trees. Following extensive invasive tree and brush removal efforts over the last decade, with the support of a consistent fire regime, the structural change within the landscape is apparent with a much more open mid-layer and canopy layer. Four years of back-to-back fires (2019-2023) at Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserve helped nearly eliminate brush resprouts following a large clearing project. Vegetational recovery has been mixed, with increases in populations of some conservative plant species and a flush of secondary invaders like Rubus and Sassafras that will require continued control.

Wampum Lake, Thornton, IL (41°34’15.2″N 87°35’35.0″W) https://maps.app.goo.gl/qETT3obr8S637zpd7

July 22 9:00 am -12:00 pm

Salt Creek Nature Preserve

Salt Creek Woods Nature Preserve features remnant oak savanna and oak-hickory woodlands, prairies, and floodplain forests adjacent to Salt Creek, a 40+ mile stream originating in the far north of Cook County flowing into the Des Plaines River. The watershed is urbanized, densely populated and flood-prone, complicating historical land management efforts. Large stands of invasive brush and trees dominated disturbed portions of the site when extensive restoration commenced in 2015. With the support of a series of federal grants combined with a reinvigorated volunteer stewardship program and deployment of Conservation Corps teams, clearing work has extended into adjacent areas such as Bemis Woods. A notable outcome of these efforts has been the successful reestablishment of native seedbanks, helping diverse woodland plant communities recover naturally with the support of consistent applications of prescribed fire.

Terminus of Edgewood Avenue off of 31st Street, LaGrange Park, IL (41°49’49.4″N 87°53’04.7″W) https://maps.app.goo.gl/QoBf7D8L9feGyWPC8

July 22 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Delmarva / Maryland Prescribed Burning for Wildlife
We have ramped up our burn program at Point Pleasant Farm in the last 2 years from an educational workshop where we burned ~20 acres to burning ~70 acres this year with 60 acres burned in conjunction with the Eastern Shore Prescribed Burn Association, and another 10 acres with a leaner team of a few people.
The field trip can discuss how we are managing farming, forestry, early successional vegatation, burning, and food plots for wildlife. A priority goal for the property is wild bobwhite quail restoration.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/h6F65gG1kuwf2MLZ6

9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Nassawango Creek Preserve: Fire Management Field Tour

RSVP HERE

This field trip will explore The Nature Conservancy’s Nassawango Creek Preserve to learn about restoration successes achieved through an ecologically driven active management approach. This preserve protects nearly 10,000 acres of habitat along Nassawango Creek, one of the Eastern Shore’s most pristine and intact waterways. The preserve hosts a significant amount of biodiversity and is home to several fire adapted upland and wetland plant communities. We will explore how prescribed fire, in combination with timber management and other restoration practices, have transformed and enhanced the landscape of the preserve over the years. Since 2008, TNC has been using prescribed fire at this site and burns on average around 1,200 acres of uplands and wetlands there each year. On this tour we will visit restoration sites across the preserve to learn about fire history, fire ecology, fire effects, flora and fauna response, timber management, and how fire and timber management work together to deliver strong ecological restoration results.

32930 Johnson Rd, Salisbury, MD 21804

July 22 9:00 – 2:00

Chapin Barrens

RSVP HERE

Chapin Barrens is a former fire-adapted community undergoing active restoration in Wales and Monson, MA. The site consists of two oak/pitch pine hills and several former pastures. Invasive management began in 2021 followed by logging in 2022, and the site received its first (recent) fire in 2025 thanks to the help of numerous partner organizations including Mass Wildlife, DCR, Joshuas Trust, the Monson and Wales Fire Departments and several individuals from CT DEEP. The site is being managed for wildlife habitat with an emphasis on fire endemic species and species of conservation concern. Our tour will focus on fire ecology, management goals and actions, and fire-adapted plant species.

More information can be found via the attached document or
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gy1YaCD3Z1TgCxTH9
Jul 22, 2026, 9am – 12pm

Managing in parallel: 60 years of oak savanna management at U of MN Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve and TNC’s Hellen Allison Savanna

Cedar Creek and Hellen Allison are among the longest managed oak savanna sites in Minnesota. While both ecosystems are characterized by a mix of pin oak woodland, barrens, and bur oak dry savanna, the two sites have received varied and at times divergent management regimes including different fire intervals, fire seasonality, and associated mechanical thinning. This tour will explore the management history of both savanna site’s, the current ecological trajectories, and how management and knowledge partnerships continue to be critical for successful management at both sites.

2660 Fawn Lake Dr NE, East Bethel MN 55005. Meet in the Lindeman Lab at Cedar Creek

Jul 22, 2026 – 1:30pm – 4:00pm

University of Minnesota Cloquet Forestry Center

RSVP Here

This morning field trip is being advertised as the first of two offerings in the Greater Twin Ports area. We recommend pairing this outing with the afternoon Wisconsin Point field trip in Superior, WI.

Visit tree-ring fire history and recent fire restoration sites at the UMN Cloquet Forestry Center, located on the Fond du Lac Reservation. We will host a walking forest tour with a mix of ecological and cultural perspectives from a small group of hosts involved in the work.

If you need accommodations for this walking forest tour, please let the organizers know. There will be no bathrooms at the field trip start point! Please come prepared.

Optional: Bring your own lunch to picnic and mingle with other attendees after the field tour.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/csuANAkPqW6ebJA67

Jul 22, 2026, 0900 – 1130

Growing and Cultivating a Prescribed Fire Culture in Southeast Minnesota

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The Minnesota Driftless Chapter of The Prairie Enthusiasts will partner with the Root River Prescribed Burn Association, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and the Minnesota Prescribed Fire Council to host a field trip in association with the 2026 Northeast-Midwest Regional Fire Science and Management Workshop. This field trip will highlight the many groups and individuals who have helped grow and cultivate a prescribed fire culture in southeast Minnesota in the last decade.

Beginning in 2017, the Minnesota Driftless Chapter of The Prairie Enthusiasts (MD TPE) has loaned prescribed burning equipment to many individuals to conduct prescribed burns on private and municipal properties, and many members of the MD TPE have provided the expertise needed by landowners to plan Rx burns and serve as crew member volunteers for the landowners.

In 2024, the Root River Prescribed Burn Association (RR PBA) was formed to further expand landowner prescribed burning capacity in southeast Minnesota, with a membership base centered in Houston County. Formation of the RR PBA was facilitated by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources which provided technical expertise and logistical support, as well as Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, which also provided technical expertise and their experience with forming other PBAs. Additionally, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever provided a fully outfitted trailer of prescribed burning equipment. Finally, the MD TPE has provided several prescribed burn crew member training events for members of the RR PBA.

The field trip will allow participants to interact with Southeast Minnesota prescribed fire practitioners with a range of experiences from experts to novices and the RR PBA prescribed burn trailer will be on site. Landowners who have benefited from the expanded prescribed fire capacity will also be present to share their experiences and perspectives. Finally, the field trip will take place at a landowner site where a RR PBA burn was conducted in the spring of 2026.

Questions: Contact Stephen Winter

Jul 22, 2026, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Prescribed Fire for Habitat Management – Big Bend Preserve

RSVP HERE

Join us for a 3 hour, relatively flat walk to learn how NY State Parks and partners were able to get prescribed fire on the ground at Big Bend Preserve – from process to action.   

Big Bend Preserve is an 860+ acre property recently added to Moreau Lake State Park in northern Saratoga County. NYS Parks acquired the land to offer public outdoor recreation and restore habitat for native plant and animal species, including the federally endangered Karner blue butterfly. Much of the site was repeatedly logged since the mid 1900’s, which left behind large areas of open habitat. Long-lasting historical impacts left the Preserve heavily dominated by invasive plant species. Native species were present but difficult to find and often struggling to compete with aggressive non-native species.

Since acquiring the property in 2021, NYS Parks has been working on a long-term project to restore these logging openings into a mix of oak-pine barrens and grassland habitats. With over 400 acres of barrens in various stages of restoration, over 300 acres of wetlands, streams and ponds and over 100 acres of secondary and mature forests along nearly three miles of Hudson River shoreline, the preserve provides a mixture of open, forest and aquatic habitats that support a wide variety of species.

Restoration efforts began in 2024 to achieve an “ecological reset” using machinery and prescribed fire. How was the Agency able to implement a prescribed burning program? What kind of impact will restoration have on plants and wildlife? How long will management last, and at what scale? Join us to take an in-person look at the impacts of NYS Parks’ and their partners’ restoration efforts at the Preserve.

Name: Big Bend Preserve – Moreau Lake State Park

GPS Coordinates: 43.265046919733805, -73.6928833575685

Link for more information:  https://parks.ny.gov/visit/state-parks/moreau-lake-state-park

Map of Big Bend Preserve: https://parks.ny.gov/sites/default/files/MoreauLakeBigBendPreserveTrailMap.pdf

July 22nd Agenda:

•  9:00-9:30 – Gather and travel to Big Bend Preserve
• 9:30-12:30 – Site Tour of Big Bend starting from Big Bend parking lot
• 12:30-1:00 – Wrap up and travel to Moreau Lake State Park
• 1:00-2:00 – Lunch – bring your own (Fernwood Pavilion, Moreau Lake State Park)
• 2:00 – 4:00 – NY RX Fire Council Meeting (Fernwood Pavilion, Moreau Lake State Park)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/q2yqZCvyvu9wcNFs9 43.265118875656285, -73.69284637548581

Jul 22, 2026 9:00am – 1:00pm

Landscape Scale Fire Restoration – SGL 210 &PA Prescribed Fire Council
The use of prescribed fire as a habitat management tool is still relatively new in Pennsylvania, but both public land management agencies and private landowners have increasingly recognized its value and achieved considerable success in developing prescribed burn programs. Efforts are now focused on building and sustaining prescribed fire programs within public agencies while also creating pathways for private landowners to implement fire safely and effectively on their properties through the Certified Prescribed Burn Manager (CPBM) program.

As these programs continue to grow, the next step in many cases is to expand implementation to a scale capable of producing meaningful ecological benefits across the landscape. This tour will highlight a Pennsylvania Game Commission State Game Lands property that has been identified as a high-priority management area and where more than 3,300 acres have been treated with prescribed fire over the past five years. Participants will have the opportunity to observe how prescribed fire is being applied at a landscape scale to achieve long-term habitat management objectives.

Meeting Location: State Game Lands 210 Greenland Rd, Halifax, PA 17032 Coordinates: (40.559616, -76.594369) https://maps.app.goo.gl/kW9KznMkPecQrNLM8

Jul 22, 2026, 0930 – 1400

 FIELD SITE HIGHLIGHTS

• Fire effects across large burn units
• Restoration efforts in ridgetop acidic barrens
• Varied restoration pathways and fire return intervals

DISCUSSION TOPICS

• Scale of historical fire
• Site selection
• Burning outside the traditional burn season
• Burning on the cool end of the prescription
• Combining burn units to increase efficiency
• Using drones and helicopters to increase both safety and efficiency

Prescribed Fire and Biodiversity at the Star Prairie Seed Nursery

Tour the Star Prairie Seed Nursery and see how prescribed fire is used to maintain prairie habitat and native seed production areas. We’ll discuss how fire influences plant diversity, wildlife habitat, and seed production while exploring native prairie flowers, grasses, and the wildlife they support. The tour will focus on the role of fire in promoting biodiversity and restoration.

Co-sponsored by the Friends of the St. Croix Wetland Management District and the Wisconsin Prescribed Fire Council.

Star Prairie Seed Nursery 1616 County Road H New Richmond WI 54017

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Bp1fFAEQLfJmEyLy6

Jul 22, 2026 – 10:00 am – 12:30pm

Black Earth Fire Effects Tour Part 3

Join us for a tour of Pleasure Valley Conservancy. This 213 acre site contains oak savanna and woodland that have been managed with fire for over 20 years.

We will observe the effects of long-term prescribed fire and other management and have opportunity to observe the many plant and wildlife species that depend on increasingly rare fire-adapted oak habitats.

Our tour will take us on an approximately one mile hike on established trails with a few steep portions. No Restrooms are available on site.

The tour will be limited to 20 attendees. Registration (no charge) at link. Registrations close at 5:00 pm on July 7.

The street address is 10747 Moyer Rd, Blue Mounds. Google Link. Parking is available along Moyer Rd. Limited parking is available on-site. A small parking area is available for overflow parking on the north side of Moyer Rd at adjacent Parrish Oak Savanna.

10747 Moyer Rd, Blue Mounds, WI 53517

https://maps.app.goo.gl/E6CJ37yzv5WddxMs8

Jul 22, 2026, 3pm – 5pm

Wisconsin Point fire-dependent pine forest

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Wisconsin Point is an ecologically unique freshwater dune sandbar with a pine forest system along Lake Superior’s edge. Historically settled by the Ojibwe people, the point was home to an Ojibwe cemetery and village, who took care of the landscape with fire. “Ishkode” (Ojibwe word for fire) is a cultural and spiritual practice as well as a land caretaking tactic. Following forced removal of the Ojibwe people from the Point, fire was absent on the Point for more than 150 years until just last year. In November 2025, a cultural prescribed burn was successfully accomplished – a collaboration between the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the City of Superior, Lake Superior National Estuarium Research Reserve, and the Nature Conservancy. The project was informed by a research project pairing tree ring science with Indigenous knowledge. Join us in exploring the changes that ishode brought to the forest ecosystem and learn more about this special place and the people who steward it.

This field trip is being coordinated with the Cloquet Forestry Center field trip in the morning. Participants are encouraged to attend the morning field trip, arrange their own lunch, then reconvene on Wisconsin Point at 1:00. Note that travel time between CFC and WI Point is approximately 50 minutes.

Directions

Jul 22, 2026, 1:00 – 3:00