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On October 31, 2007, Knowlesville Marsh on Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge was burned as part of a joint Midwest and Northeast Region's research project designed to study the effects of prescribed fire to control cattail.  This was the second of two burns conducted on Iroquois during this study which involves four national wildlife refuges and one wetland management district.

Knowlesville is a small marsh of about 40 acres, approximately 30 of which are dense cattail.   Two thousand seven has been an extremely dry year with overall precipitation well below the long-term average.  The northwestern New York area has been in extreme drought for most of the summer and early fall and groundwater levels in some refuge wetland areas was nearly six feet below the surface.  However, rain in the middle of October had resulted in a moist substrate at the base of the cattail plants which helped ease concerns over the possibility of extreme fire behavior.

The fire was active, but very manageable.  Winds were generally high, but not out of prescription.  Wind direction was perfect for a flanking fire, the preferred ignition pattern according to the study protocol.  All ignitions were conducted on the cattail stand perimeter and the fire moved through the stand without further ignition.  Flame lengths were from one to 20 feet with and average of approximately 9 feet.  Nearly all the cured cattail biomass was consumed as well as other types of vegetation.  It appears that the fire penetrated the cattail root system only slightly due to the moist conditions in this area.  Several biomass samples were collected just prior to and just after the burn to determine cattail growth and depth of the burn.  Lindsey Landowski and Warren Handke from the Service's Biological Monitoring Team office in Lacrosse, Wisconsin supervised this sampling.  They were assisted by refuge staff and volunteers.  Several more samples will be collected in 2008.  Comparison of these samples with samples previously collected during a summer burn conducted on the refuge in 2006 will help determine differences in how growing and dormant season burns effect cattail growth.  It is hoped that this information will ultimately help improve the way refuges use fire to control cattail.

The fire crew consisted of firefighters from Iroquois, Sunkhaze Meadows, Moosehorn and Long Island NWR's as well as two AD hires, one volunteer and the District Fire Management Officer.  Three Type 6 engines as well as three ATV's with 25 gallon tanks were on site.  Wildland Urban Interface concerns were the reason for the increased resources.  Ignition began at approximately 10:15 and was complete at 15:30.  Mop-up was complete at 18:00.  The fire was officially declared out at 12:00 on November 1, however no smoke had been observed since the burn day.