Wild Parsnip: It can hurt you!

If you have it, you know it!

If you aren't sure, read carefully, because you want to be very careful around this plant!

Wild parsnip is phototoxic, meaning that the combination of the plant's oil and sunlight will cause severe burns. A friend gave us a picture of a burn he received from sunlit-contact with this nasty invasive. I won't post it here, but trust me, you don't want it!

I was at a conference a couple of years ago, and asked several experienced land managers about parsnip - before giving me their management advice, each one would role up his or her shirt sleeve and point out scars earned during parsnip management work to be sure I knew how dangerous the plant was.

Despite the plant's toxicity, it can be controlled. Use the plant's life-history to your favor. It is a biennial, meaning that during its first year of growth it focuses on putting energy into its root system, and in the second year (or sometimes the third), it sends up a stem and blooms to set seed and create the next generation of plants.

With this in mind, it is NOT effecive to herbicide the plant in year two, because the herbicide is designed to be delivered to the root when the plant feeds the root, and in year two, the plant is focused on producing seed, not feeding the root! That means the herbicide can't do its job. However, in the first year, herbicide works great because the plant is focused on putting food into the root, so if you are able to identify first year plants, spray away (using glyphosate, aka Roundup).

Here is a summary of the best advice I obtained about non-chemical control of the plant:
1. Wear long sleeves, long pants & gloves to be sure the plant does not touch your skin. After you finish any contact with the plant, thoroughly wash your clothes - including the gloves - take a shower just to be sure, and wash any tools that came in contact with the plant so you don't pick up the oil later. Another suggestion is to wear a miner's helmet with a light and cut the parsnip in the dark - the person who suggested this was quite serious!

2. If there are just a few plants, pull them out by the roots before they set seed. Destroy the plants by burning them. DO NOT leave the plants lying where you pull them.

3. If you have an infestation that is too large to hand pull, then try this approach: after the plants flower, but before they set seed, cut the seed heads off and gather the cut tops together to burn them. NOTE: the plants are likely to flower again and will set seed, BUT, the flowers will be smaller, there will be fewer seeds, and many of the seeds are likely to be sterile. In four or five years, this approach should result in a dramatically reduced number of plants. At that point, the remaining ones can be pulled.

4. If you decide to mow the parsnip (because of size or resources), use a pull-behind tractor type mower, not a push mower, and definitely not a rotary cutter or weed whip! Those are much more likely to scatter the oil around where you or someone nearby can be harmed! Mowing should be timed carefully to occur when the plant has finished blooming but has not set seed. Late July is usually a good time for this -- you want to get the plants cut before they turn brown, because once they turn brown, they have set seed. The area mowed should then be checked in a few weeks for resprouts, and if necessary mowed again.

5. One good piece of news is that sites with a well-established prairie planting are not likely to be invaded by parsnip, and, if an area is enhanced by adding native seed, the parsnip is likely to fade on its own over time.

6. Prescribed fire does not really help control the plant, BUT, it will make it easier to identify the first year plants in the spring since they will be some of the earliest plants to come up. I'd like to thank my friend Vern LaGesse from Springfield for talking me through the ins and outs of parsnip management, and for reminding me to check the INPC vegetation management website because they have pulled a lot of good resources together to help individuals with managing weeds on their property.

Some parsnip facts FYI:

Life history: Wild parsnip typically lives for two years. The first year, as a spindly rosette of leaves, it keeps fairly low to the ground while the plant's carrot-like taproot develops. It may live two or more years this way until conditions are right for flowering. The second year, a hollow, grooved flower stalk rises 2-5 feet high, first holding clusters of yellow flowers and later dozens of flat, oval seeds.

Leaves: Pinnately compound, with a main stem and 5 to 15 leaflets.
Flowers: Yellow, in flat-topped umbrella-like clusters at the top of the plant.
Season: Wild parsnip rosettes are among the first plants to become green in spring, and its flowers turn a prominent yellow in midsummer. After flowering and going to seed, plants die and turn brown in fall, but first year rosettes remain green until frost.
Habitat: Roadsides, abandoned fields, unmowed pastures, edges of woods, prairie restorations.

If you want to see it, good places to spot the plant in first and second year growth are along Route 14 between Woodstock and Harvard, and along 176 by Lippold Park in Crystal Lake. It looks a little like yellow Queen Anne's Lace (or a tall, tough Golden Alexander). Look, but don't touch!

Native Americans and the Land

Did you know that native people, for perhaps thousands of years before Europeans arrived on this continent, managed the land to make it more conducive to hunting? They lit fires to keep the brush down in the woods, and to keep the landscape around their encampments open for visibility, and safe from wildfires.

This painting by Frederic Remington, noted painter of the American west in the 1800s, shows Native people watching a grass fire that they set. This would be an image that Remington actually witnessed -- he wasn't one for painting from his imagination -- he liked to depict real people and real situations that he witnessed first hand. Kind of like an early newspaper photographer, but with a canvas and paint brushes.

An early settler's journal describes this place we live in today as looking like "apple orchards planted by the hand of God for the pleasure of man." The oak woods that early settlers found were open, easy to walk or ride a horse through. Today, one might say they were "park like."

This open and inviting scene was part natural (through spread of wildfires), but also partly human-made, through the use of controlled fires by Native peoples.

After European settlement of the region, wildfires were eliminated as were human-made fires. This permitted brush and less hardy trees (like maples and ash) to grow unhindered by fire.

The lesson I wanted to pass along is this thing we call "ecological fire" is not exactly new, and the landscape that our forefathers and mothers inherited when they moved to McHenry County was hardly untouched by human hands.

So, once again, the old becomes new, as we relearn the ways that many generations of Native people took for granted. Careful management of the land was good for game, safety and ultimately survival of those peoples.

Relearning these ancient lessons of how to tend the land in ways that promote sustainability for us and for nature can only benefit every member of the community.

Burn Baby, Burn!

Ecological Fire Management of natural areas is so cool.

Take a natural area - prairie, wetland or woodland - and every year or two light it on fire. The fire knocks back invasive plants like buckthorn and garlic mustard, giving the deep rooted natives a fighting chance!

The picture makes fire look a little scary, with flames roaring higher than a person, but the truth is that when doing this, TLC is very careful. It is said that a really good ecological burn is slow and boring, and we strive to make sure our burns are the slowest and most boring!

First we make sure there are fire breaks surrounding the area we want to burn - this can be done by raking or mowing vegetation to get rid of stuff that will burn easily. The fire breaks provide a safe place for the crew to move in, and help ensure that the fire will stop at the edges of the site.

Then, starting at the portion of the fire break that is located such that the wind is blowing into our faces, we light a backfire -- this means lighting a fire a foot or so away from the fire break, and letting the wind push the fire to the fire break, resulting in a burned line that effectively expands the fire break. Because we are working against the wind at this point, we don't have to worry about the fire taking off across the site.

Once a really good blackline is burned in, we light the head fire. This is where the wind is at our backs, and the fire roars quickly across the site, dying out when it runs out of fuel at the blackline! Here is a picture of a head fire - you can see the flames leaving a charred landscape in their wake!

All through the burn, we make sure that crew members are positioned at strategic locations to catch any fire that starts up where it isn't supposed to be! Crew members are armed with flappers to smother the fire, rakes to get rid of fuel (grass and leaves), and waterpacks to extinguish the fire if needed.

Historically, fire roared across the landscape regularly, either started by lightning or lit by native people who used it to drive game. The plants that thrived in this landscape are therefore well adapted to fire -- the bur oaks have a thick, corky bark that withstands fire, and the native grasses and flowers have exceptionally deep roots that mean the plants will grow back!

The 2009 Spring burn season is drawing to a close now -- birds are starting to build nests, and grasses are starting to green up. We'd rather not burn down someone's house, not even a sparrow's!

Crowley Sedge Meadow burned!

Walking across the recently charred landscape at TLC's Crowley Sedge Meadow near Harvard, I actually caught myself doing a little dance! The site has never looked so beautiful!

This has always been one of my favorite places - the 6.7 acre "diamond in the rough" that TLC actually purchased in late 2003. I say "actually" because I am still amazed that we took that leap, especially at that time. McHenry County land is expensive, and in 2003, our finances were still a bit iffy. Yet, when it came right down to it, we knew that if we didn't buy the property, it would be lost - either through development or neglect.

After the fire, seeing all the blackened sedge tussocks (mounds of clumping grass) extending across the property, I knew that we had done a very good thing. TLC took a chance on a small site - a site that is on MCCD's natural areas inventory, but is too small and isolated to make it onto their acquisition list. Yes, a small site that the experts consider a high quality natural area worth protecting, yet because of its location and size, it would have been lost - if not for TLC.

The most common misunderstanding about TLC is that we are part of MCCD. Folks don't understand how we are different. Where do I begin?!

(1) We do not get tax money to pay our staff or to buy land. We raise our budget from private sources that include members and charitable foudations.

(2) Imagine a future where every child will be able to walk to a natural area - that is our vision for the county. You won't have to get in a car and make a special trip to experience nature - it will be part of your community - part of where & how you live, regardless of your income.

(3) We focus on preserving those resources that would otherwise fall through the cracks - those places like Crowley Sedge Meadow that all the experts say are worth preserving, but that no one else has the time or the will to save.

(4) We work primarily with private landowners to help them leave a legacy of natural lands for future generations. The vast majority of land in the county is, and always will be in private hands. TLC helps individual landowners make permanent commitments to keeping the land they love undeveloped.

I think that TLC fills a unique niche in McHenry County, and we accomplish things for land protection that - in all likelihood - would not be accomplished if we were not here. There are plenty of 6.7 acre parcels across the county that have homes on them - and you can bet that there will be plenty more in the years to come, but how many thriving sedge meadows are there? I'm thrilled to know that because of TLC - and our awesome cadre of volunteers, this little sedge meadow will be here forever!

Burn Season is upon us!

March is typically the start of "prescribed burn" or "ecological burn" season for natural land managers. Fire is the easiest way to manage many natural lands, as it clears out accumulated vegetation and keeps invasive brush and weeds in check.

Unlike native plants, non-native species tend to have shallow root systems that are more vulnerable to the effects of fire. Native plants can easily withstand even an intense burn on the surface, because their roots stretch down 5-15 feet.

I have heard questions raised about whether ecological burns contribute to global warming by releasing carbon into the atmosphere. While there is a carbon release during the burn, the fact is that natural areas sequester (store) much more carbon in the soil through their deep and dense root systems than what is released during a burn.

As much as 90% of a prairie plant's biomass (roots, stems and leaves taken together) is stored under the soil surface in the root system! So, while there may be a short-lived boost in carbon released during a burn, over the course for the following year season when the plants are growing and continuing to build their root system, a much greater amount will be stored in the soil.

Unfortunately, in the unincorporated areas of McHenry County, the decision has been made that while natural area managers can burn prairies and wetlands in March, they cannot burn any accumulated brush piles until open burning season in April & May if the brush piles are within 500' of a residential dwelling.

Pace it off, and you will see that 500' is quite a distance! In my Harvard neihborhood, 500' would be more than two blocks away! This ruling by the Planning & Development department will hamper management of these natural areas. In addition to an IEPA burn permit, the county now requires a county burn permit (which must be applied for at least 10 days prior to the burn), and if there are brush piles on the property, the burn plan must include provisions for protecting the brush piles from burning while the area around them burns.

As more developments are proposed to have natural lands within them, the use of ecological burns is likely to become more common, not less. It is customary during the management of natural lands to cut invasive brush in the winter, and then burn the area in the spring (usually as early as March, but no later than mid April because desireable plants are often growing by then). The accumulated brush piles are typically burned down during the ecological burn. This just makes sense.

I think it is a ridiculous rule! As you can see from the photo at top, burning a meadow in the spring can generate a lot of smoke, just as burning a brush pile can. How is it okay to burn the wetland in March, but not the associated piles of brush in the wetland? Both are part of ecological management of a natural area!

Also, consider this, when TLC conducts an ecological burn of a natural area: we have a permit from IEPA and the county; we notify the local fire department and dispatch; we take steps to notify neighbors; we have at least 6 people to participate in the burn, including at least one experienced burn leader; we only burn if the weather conditions are appropriate (wind, humidity, etc); and we have safety equipment including rakes, shovels and backpack water sprayers to manage any problems.

When your neighbor decides to burn his pile of landscape waste in April, he may only bring along a case of beer. But that's okay in McHenry County, since it is open burning season!