Prior Lake, Minnesota – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community conducts prescribed burns on reservation lands each fall and spring as a prairie management tool. Prescribed burns are planned for approximately 311 acres in several locations on the reservation as early as mid-April. Two additional burns are planned for off the reservation in the local area and another three for other Indian tribes.

A prescribed burn is an intentionally lit, low-intensity fire used by land managers to replicate natural fires. These burns are conducted after the snow melts, but before the grass is green to help manage invasive species and replicate natural conditions to encourage native species growth. A secondary benefit is to help prevent uncontrolled fires which can damage homes and businesses.

This year’s prescribed burn activity

At the request of the City of Prior Lake, the SMSC plans to hold a prescribed burn of the four-acre oak savanna/wetland complex at Lakefront Park north of Prior Lake. At the request of Three Rivers Park District, the SMSC plans to hold a prescribed burn of five acres at The Landing in Shakopee, which is adjacent to the burial mounds at Shakopee Memorial Park, where the SMSC has had management authority for several years and conducts burns as needed.

During prescribed burns, staff from the SMSC Land and Natural Resources Department and Mdewakanton Emergency Service trained in wild land firefighting conducts the burns along with staff from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The prescribed burns are lit and managed following best practices. SMSC Land and Mdewakanton Emergency Services staff have also assisted the United States Fish and Wildlife Service with prescribed burns and local fire departments with prairie fires upon request.

In the past few years working with the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the SMSC has made a concerted effort to help other tribes implement their prescribed burns. This year the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa (also known as the Meskwaki Nation) and the Upper Sioux Community and the Lower Sioux Indian Community (both of Minnesota) have burns planned for this spring. The SMSC plans on helping them with staff and equipment resources at the request of the BIA if timing and weather permit.

Prescribed burns on the reservation in Shakopee and Prior Lake include:

100-acre prairie at the southeast corner of McKenna Road and CR 16
2-acre prairie to the east of the Wozupi (garden) on CR 42
2-acre wetland/prairie off Dakotah Parkway by SMSC Public Works building
50-acre wetland/prairie/marsh north of the Bluffview Subdivision off Dakotah Parkway
less than 1-acre median prairies along Dakotah Parkway
4-acre prairie on Dakotah Parkway by the rock Pow Wow sign
2-acre wetlands/prairie northeast of the intersection of CR 83 and CR 82
20-acre prairie on CR 82 near Arctic Lake
75-acre prairie southeast of the intersection of CR 18 and CR 21 by Eagle Creek Elementary School
6-acre prairie east of CR 83
20-acre prairie southwest of the intersection of CR 83 and CR 42
5-acre wetland/prairie west of the SMSC Wacipi Grounds
25-acre prairie northwest of the intersection of CR 17 (Marschall Road) and CR 72

What is a prescribed burn?

All prescribed burns are entirely dependent upon weather conditions such as relative humidity, temperature, and wind speed and direction.

The SMSC conducts prescribed burns primarily for ecological and prairie restoration purposes and secondarily to reduce the risk of wildfire. Prescribed burns benefit natural communities by removing dead biomass, adding nutrients to the soil, releasing native seed banks, and killing non-native species. Another benefit of prescribed burns is that they replicate natural processes, helping some prairie species which need the high temperatures that only a fire can provide. This helps rejuvenate native prairie grasses and forbs which have evolved with frequent fire.

In a natural setting, a low-intensity fire would burn prairies and prairie/wetland complexes on a three- to five-year cycle and sometimes annually. Fire prevention and suppression activities in today’s world leave most natural areas overgrown and susceptible to invasion by non-native or invasive species.

“Suppression activities impact areas that would burn naturally if not for intervention by man. In the predominant culture today, people think fire is bad because people build homes and business in areas that would traditionally burn naturally, but for the tribe, prescribed burns are more in line with how nature takes care of the land,” said SMSC Director of Land and Natural Resources Stan Ellison.

About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is a federally recognized, sovereign Indian tribe located southwest of Minneapolis/St. Paul. With a focus on being a good neighbor, good steward of the earth, and good employer, the SMSC is committed to community partnerships, charitable donations, a healthy environment, and a strong economy. The SMSC and the SMSC Gaming Enterprise (Mystic Lake Casino Hotel and Little Six Casino) are the largest employer in Scott County. Out of a Dakota tradition to help others, the SMSC has also donated more than $262 million to organizations and causes and paid more than $7.6 million for shared local road projects since 1996, in addition to funding its own infrastructure and contributing generously to regional governments and infrastructure.