I Pity the Fuel: Prescribed Burning in Hillsborough County Nature Preserves

 Native Florida ecosystems and the wildlife they contain have evolved around the presence of fire for thousands of years. Florida boasts the largest number of lightning strikes in North America, a natural ignition process leading to fire. These fires presumably could have burned across the entirety of the state - from coast to coast. Natural and prescribed burning both enhance and promote the fire-dependent plants and animals in these ecosystems.

Fire-adapted Florida

Strictly speaking, ecosystems as a whole didn’t evolve to be fire-dependent. Plant and animal species evolve individually, and as individuals that make up the ecosystem, thrive with fire. The natural occurrence of wildfire via lightning strikes would have necessitated the adaptation of the wildlife present at the time. As the state of Florida became more developed, the addition of roads and large structures became prohibitive to the progression of these large-scale fires. Suppression and the deliberate exclusion of fire to these natural areas increased the amount of unburned fuel in the natural areas that remain, posing a threat to Florida’s wildlife. The disruption of regular fire intervals in natural areas necessitates prescribed burning; the absence of regular lighting-induced fire, or inappropriately timed prescribed fire, is what can lead to the buildup of fuels and turn a natural fire into a larger wildfire. Further, disruption of this cycle results in hardwood trees becoming established, marking the beginning of the habitat’s change from open and grassy to hardwood-dominant, shaded, and unsuitable for the majority of species that once populated the area. Fine fuels and grasses are a type of ground cover that enable the natural progression of fire to be “low and slow”, slow moving and low intensity, returning to an area early in the growing season every 3 to 5 years. No other land management tool enables nutrient cycling – the exchange of organic and inorganic matter through the ecosystem. Commonly known organisms that also accomplish this task are decomposers such as fungi, bacteria, and mold. Applying prescribed fire has become a necessary substitute for the process that naturally encourages nutrient cycling. Fire exclusion (meaning the ecosystem has not burned at the frequency required to maintain it) leads to a decline in the available habitat and forage. When an area is burned, vegetation responds with new growth and flowering; native grasses are abundant; both plants and animals have the resources to thrive.  

Prescribed fire and you

Crew member performs mop-up operations Hillsborough County ELAPP

Prescribed fire is one of the most cost-effective land management tools we have. Due to population growth and land development, naturally occurring fires cannot burn unchecked, making prescribed burning indispensable. When it comes to naturally occurring fires vs. prescribed burning as a practice, the latter has the advantage in that we conduct these burns when we have the safest and best parameters, including adequate, trained staff. Wildfires do not come with this luxury and the resulting smoke can linger much longer before rain is able to extinguish them completely. Florida Certified Prescribed Fire managers use science-based methods such as weather monitoring and smoke mapping tools to ensure, to the best of their ability, that smoke-sensitive communities and roads see minimal to no disruption when compared with wildfire effects on these same communities. 

Burn crew member observes the ignition line Hillsborough County ELAPP

Prior to conducting a burn, a burn plan (called a prescription) is written and submitted to the Florida Forest Service for approval. Without this approval, the burn will not occur. A prescription can be considered almost like a prescription one receives from a doctor; it is science based, carefully considered, and designed to improve the health of the recipient. In these prescriptions, burn managers identify the desired goals and objectives of conducting the burn and how to safely accomplish them. These goals and objectives are based on current conditions and desired future conditions of the natural communities on the site. Once this is determined, they consider weather and environmental conditions that are necessary to safely conduct the burn, minimizing smoke impacts. Mop-up operations following a prescribed burn are another smoke reduction technique employed by burn managers. This entails applying water to larger, unburned fuels such as snags (dead trees) that would otherwise smolder and smoke for days. 

When it comes to land management, we must consider each of the moving parts.

For more information regarding our prescribed fire program in Hillsborough County, please visit the Hillsborough County Conservation Prescribed Fire & Burning webpage.