Habitat: Black Oak Savannah Old dried grasses, skeletons left from autumn, sway in the warm spring breeze. Within seconds, they are caught in the swirling inferno of a prescribed burn. Fire has been a natural part of the environment well before Europeans with Indigenous Peoples using it as a medicine for the land. It returns nutrients and water to the soil and prevents dried brush from building up year to year which can cause more disastrous fires. By burning the undergrowth, it can help other plants like those specialized to Savannah and prairie habitat including wild lupine and black oaks. Animals benefit too such as migratory birds making use of the edge habitats, hognose snakes that thrive in the ashy soil, and deer that forage amongst the new grasses. In Toronto’s High Park, this practice is still carried out both by the city and the Indigenous Land Stewardship Circle each spring to prevent invasive species and restore rare habitats.
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