PRESCRIBED BURNING MONTH

104th Regular Session Introduced by Mary Edly-Allen and 3 co-sponsors

Declares April 2026 as Prescribed Burning Awareness Month in Illinois and backs the appropriate, continued use of prescribed fire to manage land and reduce wildfire risk.

Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Mary Edly-Allen

Purpose and intent

SR 461 is a non‑binding Senate resolution that declares April 2026 as "Prescribed Burning Awareness Month" in Illinois and expresses the Illinois Senate’s support for the appropriate and continued use of prescribed fire (controlled burns) as a land‑management and public‑safety tool. The resolution highlights ecological, economic, cultural, and wildfire‑mitigation benefits of prescribed fire and recognizes the Illinois Prescribed Fire Council.

Key provisions and findings

Declares April 2026 as Prescribed Burning Awareness Month in the State of Illinois.

Expresses legislative support for the "appropriate and continued use of prescribed fire" across the state.

Recites background facts and benefits including:

Prescribed fire is a traditional land management practice used for millennia (including by Indigenous peoples) to manage woodlands, grasslands, and wetlands.
It reduces hazardous fuels, lowers wildfire risk and severity, prepares sites for regeneration, improves access and aesthetics, controls pests and invasive species, and supports wildlife habitat and ecosystem restoration.
Only about 6% of conservation lands in Illinois are currently managed with prescribed fire (statistic cited in the resolution).
The Illinois Prescribed Burning Act (2007) definition of prescribed fire is quoted.

Directs that a suitable copy of the resolution be presented to the Illinois Prescribed Fire Council as a token of esteem.

Who is affected / potential impact

The resolution is largely symbolic and does not change law, create funding, or impose regulatory obligations.

Intended effects are informational and hortatory: raising awareness among state agencies, land managers, conservation organizations, local governments, private landowners, and the public about prescribed fire and its benefits.

May support outreach and coordination efforts by the Illinois Prescribed Fire Council and partner organizations, and could encourage increased use of prescribed fire on conservation lands.

Procedural / timeline information

Introduced: April 24, 2025.

Legislative actions recorded: Read and adopted (reported) April 28, 2025; reported enrolled and printed in full on April 28, 2025. The resolution declares April 2026 as the awareness month.

The legislative action log also shows later administrative entries (filed with Secretary; referred to Assignments on October 15, 2025), which may reflect clerical or docketing steps after adoption.

Notes / data irregularity

The version text in the record includes an unrelated Georgia Senate congratulatory resolution for the Haralson County High School game day cheerleading team. That Georgia text appears to have been merged in error with the Illinois Prescribed Burning resolution. The substance summarized above pertains to the Prescribed Burning Awareness Month resolution for Illinois; the congratulatory Georgia text is unrelated to the declared awareness month.

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