- Date
- 2008-03
- Kind
- Conservation
- Where
- Beaver Island
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- invasive-speciesconservationfireenvironmentcommunity
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
In early March 2008, Beaver Island firefighters tested whether winter-dried Phragmites at Cable’s Bay could be burned. They tried a torch, gasoline, and fuel oil after compacting the stalks, but the snow-moistened reeds would not carry a self-spreading fire and repeatedly extinguished themselves.
Evidence limits
This is a humorous illustrated newspaper account of an informal experiment, not a permitted control plan, fire-safety protocol, ecological study, or proof that the treatment succeeded or failed across the island.
Sources
- Beaver Beacon, April 2008, "Burning the Weed".Reports Tim McDonough, Steve Crandall, Jim Wojan, and Darrell Butler Jr. testing gas and fuel oil with torches on apparently dead Phragmites at Cable’s Bay; the stalks repeatedly self-extinguished. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2008-04_Beaver-Beacon
- The held April issue scan confirms the illustrated experiment.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2008-04_Beaver-Beacon
Added 5 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island firefighters test burning winter Phragmites, 2008”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-burning-phragmites-2008/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, April 2008, "Burning the Weed". (and 1 further source listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-05. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
BibTeX for “Beaver Island firefighters test burning winter Phragmites, 2008”RIS for “Beaver Island firefighters test burning winter Phragmites, 2008”