Park service planning to do 4 burns in restoration effort

About 689 acres in the Indiana Dunes National Park are scheduled to be burned this fall when the National Park Service conducts four prescribed fires within in the park.

Fire is used as a tool for the park’s long-term restoration and hazard fuel reduction efforts, according to a release from the National Park Service. Burns will take place throughout the park property including in and near Beverly Shores, Dune Acres and Hobart.

Porter County residents who want to be notified of the burns may subscribe to the Alert Porter County system to receive text, email or voice message regarding the events. Lake County residents also can use the system to sign up for alerts, the release said. The national park also announces prescribed fire activity on its Facebook page.

According to the release, the prescribed fire program at the Indiana Dunes National Park is conducted by trained and experienced National Park Service fire personnel.

Smoke dispersal is a primary concern. Park staff will do everything possible to limit smoke in the area by monitoring wind and atmospheric conditions prior to ignition. The possibility of smoke driving in and around park lands and roadways is a possibility, the release said.

Before burning, a designated set of conditions must exist including ideal air temperature, wind speed and direction and relative humidity. Weather conditions will be monitored throughout the duration of the burn to ensure the fire is completed safety, the release said.

About 117 acres of park property in and around the Dunewood Campground is scheduled to be burned by park staff. Burning vegetation and fuels in the campground area in the fall helps reduce the threat of wildfires for the next camping season, according to the release.

Park service staff plans to burn another 366 acres in Beverly Shores, directly east of the East State Park Road, north of the Calumet Trail and west of Broadway

Avenue.

Burning in this area is part of natural resources restoration and wildland fuels reduction.

Twenty-five acres adjacent to the Cowles Bog area just south of Dune Acres will be burned as part of the restoration efforts for the greater Cowles Bog area.

The last area slated for prescribed burning is in Hobart, immediately west of Lake George on either side of the Oak Savanah Trail. NPS plans to burn 181 acres as part of the restoration of the area to its natural Black Oak Savana ecotype and is part of a larger, multiagency restoration ongoing in the Hobart Nature District.