John Morgan

“A Burning Desire for Native Prairies”

This talk is a personal history of native prairie fire management from a Manitoba prairie boy’s perspective.  My 39 years of doing prescribed prairie burns since 1979 has given me a unique view of their ups and downs, advantages and (sometimes) disadvantages, a partial Who’s Who of who has been involved, and some representative examples of prescribed fires I have known.  What I have learned, observed and studied, may help others who may be just beginning to work in this fascinating and relatively new area of ecology.  Thousands of years of human-caused and weather-related fires shaped all of North America’s biomes. Nowhere is this more evident than the great swath of grasslands in the centre.  European settlement, agriculture and urbanization abruptly changed the situation starting in the 1700’s.  But it really took off in the early 1900’s in North America. The lack of fire now has made a dangerous paradox.  This even more so combined with climate change.  Hold on to your drip torches for a bit of a wild ride through one person’s burning desire to light-up every prairie he sees when on old man’s fancy in the spring turns to the lovely aroma of a grass fire.  All for a good reason of course!!

John has an Honours degree in Zoology/Ecology and Masters in Natural Resource Management from the University of Manitoba.  Born in Barrie, Ontario, he also has lived and worked in Saskatchewan, Alberta, the NWT and Manitoba.  He worked as a research biologist in Canada's high Arctic in the ‘70s and a wildlife habitat biologist on the prairies in the ‘80’s.  John initiated the Tall Grass Prairie Inventory in 1986, which led to Manitoba’s Tall Grass Prairie Preserve near Vita.  He also produced and directed an award-winning film on Manitoba’s Tall Grass Prairie.  With his wife Carol, he began Canada’s first prairie restoration company 39 years ago in 1987.  They have put ecological theory into practical ideas to conserve native prairies. The couple have made a living for 40 years by doing what they love and believe in - restoring prairie by using local, diverse native seed.  Their nursery produced thousands of kg of local native seed and over 200,000 live native Manitoba plants. With colleagues Doug Collicutt, Don Pomeroy and Hugh Proctor, they developed seed harvesting equipment now used for local native seed collection in 46 countries. John co-wrote the book Restoring Canada’s Native Prairies with colleagues Doug Collicutt and Jackie Thompson.  John also contributed a chapter in the Society for Ecological Restoration’s Tall Grass Prairie Handbook.  He has received the Friends of Equinox Magazine's Citation for Environmental Achievement, the Government of Canada's 125th Anniversary Medal, the Nature Manitoba Prairie Crocus Award and the 2013 Canadian Prairie Conservation Awards for his work in restoring native prairies.  He and Carol reside in Manitoba’s Interlake region, growing local native seed, plus helping the next generation learn about and restore native prairies.