Buffalo Pound Provincial Park is planning a controlled burn in April.  

Dale Gross is a grassland ecologist with the Landscape Protection Unit of the Ministry of Parks, Culture, and Sport, and shared what a controlled burn is.  

“[It’s] a fire set intentionally under specific environmental conditions, like higher relative humidity [and] lower wind speeds.” 

“You tailor that prescription to meet specific land management objectives,” added Gross. Controlled fires prevent uncontrolled wildfires from breaking out by burning away excess dead plant matter.  

He said that they undertake controlled burns on the Prairies because Indigenous communities have been doing so with success for thousands of years. “The plants and animals here are adapted to periodic fire, and some of them respond very well to fire.” 

During a controlled burn, Gross said, you will see trained individuals in the park with helmets and flame-resistant clothing, who have water hoses hooked up to tanks and pumps.  

Someone will use a drip torch to light the area. “Then there’ll be a team around that person where they’re putting that fire out within a specified area.” 

He said they take steps to prevent harm to wildlife when controlled burns are happening. "We walk the site; we have these smaller burn units. We time them so the animals – especially birds nesting – aren’t harmed during our activity.” 

The areas undergoing the controlled burn will be closed off for safety with signs letting people know that the work is being undertaken. Gross said places closed off for the burn are around the bison paddock and Nicolle Flats Interpretive Area.  

He said they’re aiming to do a controlled burn at Buffalo Pound Provincial Park on April 25. “It’s highly weather dependent, and we’ll be able to monitor that day as to how things are progressing. If those conditions aren’t meant, then we just won’t burn.” 

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