On Thursday February 5, 24 Environmental Club members made the journey to the University of West Alabama. We started off in the Cafeteria, which is a very nice building but I'll let you comment on the food, where we met up with Dr. Wymer and his crew. Once we finished eating, they gave a presentation on the importance of prairies and fire. Our students also received some information about the college and scholarships and such.
After lunch we headed over to the ALFA center where we walked out to the portion of the prairie that we were going to burn. Robbie Limerick, from UWA, discussed fire safety and then appointed various jobs for the members of our group. After the phone call to the Alabama Forest Service, he lit the torch and the burning began.
He started by doing a backfire which creates a buffer zone. This is backing the fire against the wind so it will move slowly through the prairie grasses. We stood around with buckets of water and cedar tops waiting just in case we were needed. We did make a wet line just in front of the area that we were burning, to help contain any loose flames. Once the buffer area was established, we started a head fire over a small area just so everyone could see what to expect when we were ready to burn the rest of the prairie. The flames reached heights of about 10 feet at times and moved very fast across the open prairie. During the burning we saw numerous rats and field mice escaping, about four deer, and a gray fox.
Next they handed me the drip torch and allowed me to burn off a small area. Wait, I know you are thinking, Mr. Skipper and fire, what were they thinking. Yes, I know I'm awesome.
After the burn, we headed back to the main part of campus where the students walked across the old covered bridge. Then we toured the Natural Sciences building (Bibb Graves Hall). Dr. Wymer, Dr. Shumaker, Dr. Stanton, Dr. Rindsberg, and Dr. McCall all spoke to our students and gave us a wonderful tour of the Natural Sciences classrooms and labs.
We ended our stay in Livingston by stopping at Tres Hermanos or Mexico if you are from West Alabama. After filling up on cheese dip, nachos, and other various foods, we headed back to EC.
What a great trip. Sorry there are no pictures. No one gave me any to put up. If some come later then I will post them.
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