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Needed prescribed burn planned for Asylum Lake

April 21, 2005

KALAMAZOO--A prescribed burn is planned for about 60 acres of the Asylum Lake Preserve sometime during the final week of April or the first week of May.

Prescribed burns are intentional and "managed" fires and are necessary periodically to maintain and promote the health of the native prairie grasses found in the southwest corner of the preserve, which is located along Drake Road and Parkview Avenue in Kalamazoo. The area of the burn represents about one-fifth of the preserve's 270 total acres. Wind, weather and atmospheric conditions must be right for a prescribed burn to be conducted safely and effectively. For that reason, the exact date of the burn won't be known until about 24 hours before hand.

Environmentalists and the public are welcome to observe the burn from the sidewalks along Drake and Parkview. As soon as a date is set for the burn, it will be announced on the university's news Web site at <www.wmich.edu/wmu/news>.

The burn was authorized by the operations committee of the Asylum Lake Council and will be undertaken with the cooperation of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, Oshtemo Fire Department and Western Michigan University, which owns the property.

The Asylum Lake Council manages the preserve as open space for passive recreational purposes under a Declaration of Conservation and Preserve Management Plan approved by the WMU Board of Trustees. More information is on the Web at <www.wmich.edu/asylumlake>.

Media contact: Thom Myers, 269 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu

WMU News
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
269 387-8400
www.wmich.edu/wmu/news