Brush controversy burns out
City happy with village burning precautions
City of Delafield - City officials say they are happy with how the Village of Hartland conducted brush burning in the Hartland marsh during the past two weeks.
City Administrator Tom Hafner said he witnessed some of the burning. He said village officials took steps to prevent phosphorus and other pollutants from reaching the Bark River and eventually reaching Lake Nagawicka.
Council members Tim Aicher and Lynn Morrison expressed concerns about pollution resulting from the burnings at a Common Council meeting two weeks ago.
The Common Council unanimously approved sending aletter to Hartland village officialsexpressing city officials' concerns about the project.
The village has been burning hundreds of brush piles scattered through the marsh in an effort to help the Ice Age Alliance transfer land it owns into the marsh to a local or state government agency with resources to adequately protect the area from invasive species.
The 200 acres of marsh is owned by three parties. The trail alliance owns about 132 acres, the Village of Hartland owns 81 acres and the Waukesha County Land Conservancy owns about 28 acres.
The brush cuttings had accumulated over the years after volunteers spent weekends cutting down buckthorn, pulling garlic mustard and trying to maintain the natural condition of the marsh and river.
Hafner said the individual brush piles that were burned were far enough apart and sufficiently surrounded by marshundergrowth that any release of nitrogen or phosphorus was under control and not large enough to be harmful to the river and lake.
However, Morrison said she would have preferred that the village notify the city in advance of the burning.
"I hope that whenever we do anything that has the potential to affect our neighbors downstream, we shown them the courtesy of telling them in advance and explaining to them what we plan do," Morrison said.
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5 Comments
thebax - Feb 21, 2013 8:21 AM
PaulMozina - Feb 23, 2013 12:59 PM
"Much wood ash contains calcium carbonate as its major component, representing 25[5] or even 45 percent[1] Less than 10 percent is potash, and less than 1 percent phosphate; there are trace elements of iron, manganese, zinc, copper and some heavy metals.[5] However these numbers vary as combustion temperature is an important variable in determining wood ash composition.[4] All of these are, primarily, in the form of oxides.[4]"
and
"For a long time wood ash has been used in agricultural soil applications as it recycles nutrients back to the land. Wood ash has some value as a fertilizer, but does not contain nitrogen. Because of the presence of calcium carbonate it acts as a liming agent and will deacidify the soil increasing its pH.[5]"
So please, stop asserting that wood ash contains nitrogen and phosphorus unless you can document it. It would be nice, indeed "courteous", if the City of Delafield Council members would do a little research before making dubious claims. It would be nice as well if the City of Delafield Council would recognize the major cleanup efforts that have been made on the Bark River in the Village of Hartland.
Tim Aicher - Feb 25, 2013 10:34 AM
I agree that the story as reported in this publication contains limited information. One omission worth noting is the gratitude I expressed in the Council meeting regarding your efforts in controlling the invasive species in the marsh area as well as the existence of the marsh itself and how it provides an invaluable service to the Bark river and the lakes downstream.
As for nutrient content in log ash, I concur with your wikipedia source. Devoid of leaves and small twigs, log ash contains only trace phosphorus and no nitrogen. However, tree limbs, tops, small branches or "slash" as defined by WI Forestry service (http://nrs.fs.fed.us/fmg/nfmg/docs/wi/glossary.pdf) do contain both Phosphorus and Nitrogen.
Tim Aicher - Feb 25, 2013 10:35 AM
Best Management Practices for water quality and stormwater management in both MN and WI specifically recommend against brush, leaf, and slash burning near water.
MN DNR guidelines specifically warning against burning brush on slopes near rivers and lakes:
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/view-document.html?gid=6494
WI DNR report detailing that burning slash in protected watershed areas is against Best Management Practices and great care should be used whenever burning near water:
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/forestmanagement/bmp.html
Detailed report of P and N content in various trees and slash plants from a national study as reported by the DNR :
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/ForestBusinesses/documents/LoggingResidueReport.pdf
Most lake management districts and committees (including Delafield's for Nagawicka and per Delafield's City Ordinance) do not allow fire pits near the lake for those reasons.
As reported, Hartland officials appeared to be in contact with the DNR regarding future prescribed burns. It was simply suggested by the Delafield City Council that Hartland include these brush pile burns in that consultation.
Only a suggestion and only out of the long standing open communication and team effort that the municipalities have enjoyed over the years. Based on the location of the piles, my concerns were allayed. Thank you for your hard work and efforts.
Respectfully,
Tim Aicher
Atron - Feb 26, 2013 1:59 PM