FORT ST. JOSEPH NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE PRESCRIBED FIRE

St. Joseph’s Island, May 10, 2024 – Parks Canada is planning to conduct a small, prescribed fire test at Fort. St. Joseph National Historic Site this afternoon. The site is now snow-free, and grasses are dry and cured. Clear weather, with light south-west winds and good ventilation are required for prescribed fire operations, and the forecast for this weekend shows favourable conditions.

Fire specialists will only ignite under pre-determined conditions to ensure a well managed, successful prescribed fire. The safety of people, infrastructure and neighbouring lands is always Parks Canada’s top priority.

Smoke and flames may be visible from a long distance. There is a possibility that smoke may drift to areas adjacent to Fort St. Joseph National Historic Site. Neighbouring residents and property owners may experience some smoky conditions due to smoke travelling outside the prescribed fire area.   

Prescribed fire allows for the targeted and safe reintroduction of fire as an important ecological process into ecosystems that would have historically relied on fire to help shape those landscapes. The Fort St. Joseph NHS prescribed fire test aims to improve habitat suitability and ecosystem restoration for the betterment of Monarch Butterfly by using fire for landscape conservation maintenance. The subject area is approximately 0.05hectares in size, specifically a 20m x 30m plot. See Map 1.

This is the first prescribed fire for Fort St. Joseph National Historic Site, and it will be monitored for fire effects and suitability as a landscape management practice to maintain open habitat characteristics. As a result, post fire vegetation monitoring plots designed to measure growth and archaeology test pits designed to measure depth of burn have been established.

For up-to-date information about area or facility closures and other updates on the prescribed fire, please visit Fort St. Joseph National Historic Site’s website at Fort St. Joseph National Historic Site (canada.ca)

More information about Parks Canada’s National Fire Management Program can be found at:

https://parks.canada.ca/nature/science/conservation/feu-fire.

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Contact:

Megan Miller
Fire Information Officer
Northern Ontario Field Unit 

megan.miller@pc.gc.ca