Project Synopsis:

Illinois habitats from the forests and glades of southern Illinois to the expanses of prairie, savannas, and wetlands in central and northern Illinois evolved with regular wildland fire. Many of these fires were intentional management by Indigenous People. In the 21^st century, prescribed fire is one of the most effective tools to support healthy habitats for native plants and animals. The Illinois Prescribed Fire Council (IPFC) is a group of individuals, organizations, land managers, and agencies working to promote safe and effective prescribed fire in Illinois for natural area management. Members of IPFC voluntarily share data on prescribed fires conducted each year, generating the annual prescribed fires accomplished map. IPFC leadership summarizes these data each year, but we know there are additional questions that could be explored with these data.

In fall 2022, IPFC partnered with Dr. Elsa Anderson’s introductory GIS course at Northwestern University through the MCDC collaboration. The term culminated in a field trip for the Northwestern students to the Nachusa Grasslands preserve, where they got to experience landscape scale prairie, observe recently burned areas, and present their final project posters to IPFC members. Students used IPFC data to build new skills in GIS as well as learn about fire ecology and native Illinois habitats. Members of IPFC had the opportunity to see the data correlated with variables like precipitation, air quality, and time. The students’ questions led to new understandings of the data and insights into prescribed fire success across the state.