Did you see smoke coming from Penn State’s arboretum? Here’s what happened

April 23--UNIVERSITY PARK -- Pat McElhenny lit a fire at The Arboretum at Penn State on Monday morning.

But don't worry, he did it on purpose.

In the time it took for him to say "fire on the ground," the orange flames were already spreading.

A crew of nine, including representatives from the Nature Conservancy and Pennsylvania Game Commission and volunteer firefighters, worked quickly and diligently amid a thick white smoke to burn at least eight or nine acres of land at the arboretum.

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Jenny Case, a Nature Conservancy employee who served as the day's burn boss, said it a standard operation. The crew set black around the edges to make it a safe area and then filled the fire in.

It's part of the arboretum's ongoing prairie restoration project.

Penn State is trying to re-establish a limestone prairie ecosystem on 12 acres at the arboretum, and fire is a critical tool. Shari Edelson, director of horticulture and curator at the arboretum, said a lot of people don't know that prairies similar to, but smaller than, those in the Great Plains actually existed in central Pennsylvania.

As land uses changed over recent history, through agriculture and development, a lot of those habitats were lost, she said.

When early work was being done to document the plants on the site of the, then, future arboretum, Edelson said, a small remnant of limestone prairie patch was discovered.

"It's pretty remarkable and rare to find that kind of a plant community these days," she said.

Two of the most "iconic and representative" grasses that grow on the site are big blue stem, which can grow to 7 feet tall, and little blue stem, Edelson said. Another native plant found in limestone prairies is wild bergamot, a favorite wildflower of hummingbirds and butterflies. It can be about 4 feet tall, with a "beautiful" purple bloom. (She said the crushed foliage of wild bergamot has a minty, peppery taste that makes a delicious sun tea.)

So efforts were made to not only preserve that patch, but also to expand and restore the area, Edelson said.

That's where the prescribed fire comes in. The one conducted Monday was the third in this project -- the previous two were in 2013 and 2015.

Some grasses and wildflowers are actually helped by periodic fire, she said, so the tops will burn but the root stock is not affected. The fire can also expose seeds that those plants may have dropped in the ground and promote germination.

In addition, "the fire helps to knock back those invasives or nondesirables" that are growing in the area, said McElhenny, fire manager for the Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania.

Edelson said the arboretum has been fortunate to collaborate with the Nature Conservancy and game commission, which both have volunteered their services, because without their support, the project wouldn't be possible.

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