CARL R. HANSEN WOODS — John McCabe watched as orange flames licked at patches of the prairie grass known as little bluestem on a recent Tuesday at Carl R. Hansen Woods.
Twelve different crews were conducting prescribed burns at various locations across Cook County that Tuesday. The Forest Preserves of Cook County burns an average of 7,738 acres every year, making it one of the largest urban prescribed burn programs in the country. The practice has even grown in recent years — 30 years after the entire program was nearly snuffed out.
“It’s like night and day,” said McCabe, director of the Forest Preserve’s Department of Natural Resources. “People used to be afraid of [prescribed burns], now they come up to us while we’re working to thank us and ask for a selfie.”…