Gettysburg National Military Park plans prescribed fires

More of the Pardee Field burn.
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Gettysburg Battlefield will burn: Park Service plans controlled fires Saturday to clear open spaces, protect historic site
The battlefield at Gettysburg National Military Park will burn on Saturday.

The National Park Service, which oversees the landmark Civil War site in Adams County, announced a series of controlled burns on 215 acres of the battlefield today and Saturday.

However, the fires on Friday were postponed, according to an announcement from the park service late Friday morning, because of high winds in the area.

The burn is scheduled to continue as planned on Saturday, weather permitting.

And you can watch. According to the park service, the public is invited to view the fires from a safe distance.

According to a statement issued by the park service, “conditions are right ... to conduct a prescribed fire on 215 acres between Devils Den and South Confederate Avenue.”

The fires will help to maintain “the conditions of the battlefield as experienced by the soldiers who fought here.”

The burn also will help clear open spaces in the landscape, maintain wildlife habitits, control exotic invasive species, reduce shrub and woody species and “reduce fuels in wooded areas to reduce fire hazard,” the release states.

Want to see the battlefield ablaze? Here’s where you can go:
The public may view the prescribed fire from the Snyder farm house at West Confederate Avenue and Emmitsburg Road (parking along West Confederate Avenue), or from Little Round Top. No stopping of vehicles along Emmitsburg Road for viewing the fire will be permitted.

Where to avoid:
South Confederate Avenue and Sickles Avenue will be closed beginning at 6 a.m. Devils Den, including all pedestrian access, will be closed.

All pedestrian and horse trails within the burn area, as well as the hiking trails on Big Round Top and the picnic area along South Confederate Avenue, will be closed.

Additional roads, trails and areas may be closed temporarily as conditions require.

How are they protecting the battlefield monuments?
The park service is using a combination of lawn sprinklers, hoses, mowed lines and fire engines to create a buffer and fire break between the burn areas and the monuments and other cultural resources.

Park service staff will monitor air quality and smoke impacts as well as visibility on nearby roads.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/lo...cle_b5680082-3f2c-11e8-97b2-efb4a985555b.html

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Controlled Spring burns will kill some of the creepy critters that are living in the old growth and dead grass and weeds. In fact this is about the only way to semi control ticks and chiggers other than spraying the fields with an insecticide.
Regards
David
 
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