The spring of 2004 turned out to be the biggest prescribed fire season for Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in a decade. This year, the fire crew at Minnesota Valley completed 25 prescribed burns for a total of 1,256 acres. This year's numbers were significantly higher than the norm, and the number of wildland fires also skyrocketed to 14 fires on 76 acres. The Wildland-Urban interface also had its fair share of fires with 20 burns for 921 acres. These numbers alone for 2004 left the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge staff burned out (pun intended).

-Jennifer Stifter, Intern, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge