For those of us who grew up with Smokey Bear saying “Only you can prevent forest fires,” and frightened by the horrific blazes in the Disney movie, Bambi, it’s a big leap to embrace the idea of using fire to create healthy and beautiful woods (or even prairies, for that matter).

But it’s time to make that leap according to many experts at the recent national Natural Areas Association conference. Although the meeting brought together folks working to restore or maintain healthy habitats all over the U.S.,  Doug Ladd and Paul Nelson were just two of several biologists  based in Missouri who talked about the fact that fire lit by humans here is what helped keep prairie as prairie and made the upland woods rather open for thousands of years. One description of a typical woods was one in which trees were scattered that two wagons could drive side-by-side between them. More light on the ground meant more flowers and grasses growing below.

Certain plants thrived better than others in those fire conditions. An ecologist from the U.S. Forest Service talked about how oaks, especially white oaks, are more adapted to fire in several ways: thicker bark, ability to keep wounded areas isolated from the rest of the tree, ability to get moisture better from the ground than many other species.

I went on a field trip led by Dan Drees through Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Repeated burning of selected areas there over the years really opened up some of the woods. The contrast in those burned more, less and not at all was really easy to see.

Creating beautiful landscapes with healthy native plants growing where they were meant to grow will require fire. Otherwise, we’ll have a bunch of crowded trees and a lot fewer flowers and other plants, and also a lot fewer of the types of birds and other wildlife that use these. More thoughts on how we can enhance the nature we’ve got later.