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“Time to re-think our spring tradition”
There are not many advantages of burning dry grass. The main argument in historical support of this practice was that burning out the grass warms the soil and enriches it with ashes from burned grass and, as a result, grass on the scorched areas comes up sooner and grows faster. The facts are that grass fires only slightly warm up the soil and have no beneficial effect, sometimes even a negative effect as buds and seeds of grasses and legumes on the soil surface are destroyed. As for fertilizing the soil by ashes, grass fires add nothing new. In any case, mineral matters contained in ashes would have gotten into the soil as a result of dry grass decay. Dry grass fires actually result in a noticeable
decrease of soil fertility, reducing the amount and quality of nutrients in the soil and in fact, many nitric compounds & organic carbon-based matter become lost, one of the main factors of soil fertility reduction.
Grass fires also damage biodiversity and can lead to catastrophic consequences including forest fires, damage to property, the loss of millions of small creatures along with destruction of their habitats and sometimes even the loss of human life.
At PICTOU MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY we strongly urge you to discourage the burning of spring grass. Enjoy a safe and healthy spring – together we
WILL make a difference.
PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FIRE FIGHTERS
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