In July of 2026, PFQF and USFWS biologist teamed to accomplish several site visits on private lands which sparked the movement of work in this area with this grant. Throughout the fall months PFQF, USFWS and IDNR worked to develop an in-person workshop and live burn demonstration to be hosted in Central Illinois, unfortunately the government shutdown impacted the plans for this workshop and we ended up hosting an in-person indoor only workshop in January at Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA, where we had 22 participants attend and 7 partners present on different topics surrounding prescribed fire. We also hosted a Prescribed Burn Workshop in March in Arenzville, IL where we applied a more hands on and visual approach for our material presentation. Following both workshops, we hosted a Prescribed burn association interest meeting to introduce the idea, concept and purpose of a PBA. Focusing on how they have a collaborative function and the benefits they bring.
Following our initial Prescribed Fire workshop we hosted a live burn demonstration in Chandlerville, IL on late February where we had local partners from Prairie Lands Conservancy, Alice L. Kibbe Life Science Research Station and the Chandlerville Volunteer Fire Department on site with resources. This burn demonstration and training day showed local landowners and provided a great opportunity for an exchange of prescribed fire knowledge and experience between conservation wildland firefighters and Chandlerville Firefighters. In addition to the live burn demonstration, we were able to burn several private landowners’ properties to achieve ecological objectives.
Throughout our project timeline, we were also able to develop a multitude of workshop activities, such as burn plan writing workshops, burn unit design and ignition plan scenarios that encouraged group collaboration and discussion surrounding the preparation of burn units and how to best approach burn units with varying complexity levels. We also identified various workshop topics tailored to our audience of landowners or VFDs that hold different levels of experience. Regarding work for prescribed burn associations, we were able to develop informational pamphlets and flyers that outline and give more information on the concept of prescribed burn associations, how they function, leadership roles and estimated time commitments that a PBA might entail.