Employees of Jennings Environmental Center, Keystone State Park and other departments conduct the annual controlled burn of the prairie Monday. According to the Jennings website, the controlled burn is used to slow the growth of woody plants and rejuvenate the native grasses and wildflowers.

Park personnel formed a line, marched onto and burned the prairie Monday at Jennings Environmental Education Center.

“It's a management technique to stimulate the growth of the prairie flowers that people come to see,” said Jennings park manager Wil Taylor. “It also reduces the amount of competition we see from trees, shrubs and invasive plants.”

According to Taylor, staff from Jennings and other parks used a controlled burn on seven of 20 acres of natural prairie.

The local prairie is the only protected one of its kind in the state.

Taylor said the burn also benefits wildlife in the area too, particularly the endangered eastern massasauga rattlesnake.As of 2016, the massasauga is listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.“That's the habitat the snake prefers,” Taylor said. “The massasauga does not live in the forest. It lives in fields, meadows and prairies,”According to Taylor, the prairie is divided into four quadrants for routine burning. The acreage burnt Monday accounts for two of those quadrants, and burning takes place annually.“Fire in itself is beneficial if it's used properly,” Taylor said. “Nature is not static; it's dynamic. It's always changing.”According to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, these controlled fires, also known as prescribed burns, are important, especially in areas where nature meets neighborhoods.

The Pennsylvania Prescribed Burning Practices Act establishes requirements and regulations for prescribed burns.Taylor said he and his staff have consistently adhered to these best practices.“Everyone knows their role on the fire line,” he said.According to Taylor, the DCNR has been increasing the use of controlled burns in recent years, but Jennings has probably the most experience with them, having done them since the 1960s.“Jennings has been doing it probably the longest of all the state parks,” he said.Taylor said the weather conditions were appropriate for burning, and no one was injured in the fire line.“I thought today went very well,” he said.

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Employees of Jennings Environmental Center, Keystone State Park and other departments conduct a controlled burn of two of the four designated quadrants of the prairie at Jennings Environmental Education Center on Monday.

Employees of Jennings Environmental Education Center, Keystone State Park and other departments conduct the annual controlled burn of the prairie Monday, march 8, 2021. According to the Jennings website, the controlled burn is used to slow the growth of woody plants and rejuvenate the native grasses and wildflowers.

The controlled burn is used to slow the growth of woody plants and rejuvenate the native grasses and wildflowers at Jennings Environmental Education Center on Monday, March 8, 2021.