Fired up: Steamboat Run holds prescribed burn to promote meadow’s health and safety

A Sustainable Solutions LLC employee sets the edge of the Steamboat Run meadow on fire Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
SHEPHERDSTOWN — The fire burned bright along Steamboat Run Road on Sunday afternoon, as a team from Sustainable Solutions LLC performed a prescribed burn on a 10-acre meadow in the private community.
According to Steamboat Run Community Association’s Common Grounds Committee Chair Than Hitt, the prescribed burn was a long time coming, in that it had been the committee’s goal for many years, as part of its management of the meadow as a Grassland Bird Preserve under the direction of the Potomac Valley Audubon Society’s Grassland Bird Initiative.
“It costs several thousand dollars, but it’s an investment in conservation!” Hitt said, of the $4,850 price tag. “This is novel. It’s something special for a private community to do. It requires a lot of time and effort, but it’s doable.
“This could be done, sequentially, every several years. It’s going to depend on the results of this burn, how we proceed in the future,” Hitt said, mentioning that hiring Sustainable Solutions to conduct the burn and maintain safety protocols with an audience of two dozen nearby was an easy decision. “They have experience in this practice and are well-respected in the area, so choosing Sustainable Solutions, with their local knowledge and expertise in this area, was a no-brainer for us.”
Laurel Parker, one of the founding members of the Common Grounds Committee, watched the prescribed burn with a sense of satisfaction.

KC Walters, who advised Steamboat Run to hold the prescribed burn, as a current employee of Potomac Valley Audubon Society and certified wildland firefighter, speaks to the prescribed burn’s attendees on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
“I’m glad this is finally happening! We’ve been working this for a while,” Parker said. “Really, a controlled burn is the best way to care for the meadow.”
According to Sustainable Solutions LLC president and founder James Remuzzi, the prescribed burn is a practice that would, historically, have happened in the area as the result of a lightning strike. In the modern era, those grassland fires are quickly put out, to prevent the fire’s uncontrollable spread. The prescribed burn allows for the benefits, without the consequences, of the grasslands fires to be gained — a healthier ecosystem, with revitalized soil and vegetation, which should lead to an increase in wildlife.
“It’s not every day you get to see a prescribed burn,” Remuzzi told the crowd. “We’re really excited to have everyone here! It’s a great learning opportunity.”
On hand to further explain the proceedings was former Sustainable Solutions LLC employee, certified wildland firefighter and PVAS Conservation and Land Manager KC Walters. According to Walters, she had been one of the individuals encouraging the committee to pursue holding the prescribed burn, which is an often recommended practice for PVAS’s registered Grassland Bird Preserves. Hopefully, with the help of the prescribed burn, the 20 birdhouses along the edges of the meadow, as well as the vegetation in the meadow, will soon become hosts to more than its current 110 bird species.
“I think of it as nature’s spring cleaning!” Walters said of prescribed burns. “The ultimate goal here is rejuvenation of the local habitat — to burn out invasive species, bring back native species and introduce more wildlife in this area. We’re hoping to get some threatened species to come back here, like the eastern meadowlark, the vesper sparrow, the grasshopper sparrow and the bobolink.

A Sustainable Solutions LLC employee puts out the prescribed burn’s fire along the meadow in Steamboat Run on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
“I would love it if every neighborhood would focus on ecological conservation in their plans,” Walters said, mentioning Sunday’s burn turned out as well as could be anticipated, thanks to a light south wind that helped the fire grow in the ideal direction. “The way the backing fire is going down, this is pretty much textbook for the way this is supposed to happen.”
- A Sustainable Solutions LLC employee sets the edge of the Steamboat Run meadow on fire Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
- KC Walters, who advised Steamboat Run to hold the prescribed burn, as a current employee of Potomac Valley Audubon Society and certified wildland firefighter, speaks to the prescribed burn’s attendees on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
- A Sustainable Solutions LLC employee puts out the prescribed burn’s fire along the meadow in Steamboat Run on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
- Sustainable Solutions LLC President and Founder James Remuzzi speaks about the prescribed burn to its attendees on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston
- A sign along Steamboat Run Road warns drivers of the smoke from Sunday’s prescribed burn, which is visible in the distance. Tabitha Johnston

Sustainable Solutions LLC President and Founder James Remuzzi speaks about the prescribed burn to its attendees on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

A sign along Steamboat Run Road warns drivers of the smoke from Sunday’s prescribed burn, which is visible in the distance. Tabitha Johnston