Back to Nature

Performing the burn at a major airport posed a challenge for Field Maintenance personnel in keeping the smoke from obscuring the view of both pilots and motorists. Air traffic controllers strategically used the airport's three runways to keep aircraft from taking off and landing in the smoke. Photo provided courtesy of Kansas City Aviation Department

For thousands of years, fire has played an important role in maintaining the health of native prairies and improving wildlife habitat. For the first time, the Kansas City Aviation Department burned native prairie grasses at Kansas City International Airport (KCI). Initiated to enhance the appearance and control of the site's woody plants and herbaceous weeds-- controlled burning simulates natures lightening strikes, which caused the prairie grass to ignite.

Original project Landscape Architect Jeffrey L. Bruce, FASLA, recommended controlled burning several years ago. Bruce maintains, "Fire is an important element to return to; it increases bio-diversity and [allows] colonization under a natural condition." Prescriptive burning highly reduces the amount of exotic plants and successional growth, keeps out shrubbery, and greatly improves prairie health and floral display. "I think the prairie had been in for close to twenty years without ever being burned, it had problems," states Bruce. "The Kansas City Aviation Burn is quite a tribute to thinking environmentally."