Courtesy notice: controlled burn planned at neighboring UM-Dearborn campus

During the final week of March or in early April, the University of Michigan-Dearborn will conduct a planned / controlled burn in its Environmental Study Area, weather permitting.

Because the UM-Dearborn campus is adjacent to the main HFC campus, we are making you aware of plans for the controlled burn.

The specific areas that will be targeted are five small, planted prairie garden beds north of the Rose Garden Pond. The total planned burn area is less than ½ acre. The HFC campus will not be affected, but the fire and smoke may be visible. Please do not be alarmed if you see smoke or fire on the UM-Dearborn campus.

The burn will be closely monitored and will be extinguished when the planned areas are completed.

Why use controlled burns?

Fire is an important land management tool and is part of a critical process that supports healthy regrowth within a prairie habitat. Areas that have been managed through controlled burns grown significantly more blooming wildflowers and native grasses in the following years. In addition, fire helps control some of the invasive plants that are reducing the native biodiversity in natural areas.

Representatives from UM-Dearborn’s Environmental Interpretive Center, the Department of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), and the Department of Public Safety (DPS) have been involved in the planning and will be present during the controlled burn. A specially-trained prescribed burn crew will conduct the burn activity.

Access to the Rose Garden Pond area during this time will be restricted to authorized burn personnel. For ecological reasons, the burns are set to take place between March and mid-May when weather and ground conditions are appropriate. The specific time of the burn will be set when conditions are expected to minimize the persistence of smoke.

For questions or more information about the prescribed burn, contact UM-Dearborn EHS at 313-583-6679 or HFC Campus Safety at 313-842-9862.