The Trailblazer

Sign up for Hillsborough County's new Prescribed Fire Notification System Hillsborough County is making it easier for you to know when a prescribed burn might be affecting your neighborhood. Sign up today to receive prescribed burn email notifications whenever Hillsborough County’s prescribed burn teams are conducting a burn.   Prescribed fire is a vital tool we use to manage Hillsborough County’s 80,000 plus acres of conservation land. It is a safe way to apply a nature process, ensure ecosystem health, and reduce wildfire risk. Despite all the great things prescribed fire can do to protect our communities and help nature flourish, the smoke from a prescribed burn can also be a nuisance if you are sensitive to it, and that is why we want to give everyone the power to prepare.    Although prescribed burns are carefully planned, unfortunately they cannot be scheduled. Our burn managers write a prescription based on the exact weather conditions they need to safely and...

Life on the Edge: Firewise Florida In previous articles we've discussed the reasons  prescribed fire is beneficial to Florida’s natural landscape . Whether you’re new to the state or born and raised in Hillsborough County, at some point you’re bound to come across a prescribed burn led by a Florida Certified Prescribed Fire Manager.  Past articles  describe the safety measures Fire Managers employ   to keep the public and staff safe while planning and directing prescribed burns. If you’re lucky enough to live near one of Hillsborough County’s Nature Preserves,  it’s important to become familiar with the use of prescribed fire. Without it, those beautiful views and healthy ecosystems will steadily decline over time. The Environmental Lands Management Acquisition and Protection Program  was created to manage and protect these lands for future generations. Our 68,000 acres offer more than fantastic recreation opportunities and picturesque landscapes. Ecosy...

Fire Flora Anyone who has ever gardened or worked on their landscaping at home knows the mantra “right plant, right place”. We’d like to add “right time”. If you’ve ever tried to plant lettuce in the summertime, you know it’s an exercise in futility! Natural areas operate exactly the same way. There’s a reason that you won’t find a cypress tree in upland scrub habitat or a longleaf pine on the beach. Root structures, soil acidity, and water flow are all factors that contribute to an individual plant’s survival and a population’s ability to thrive in any given ecosystem. One fascinating factor that promotes healthy populations of some flora refers to plants that thrive with the presence of fire, or pyrophytes. There are several subcategories of this term: Passive pyrophytes : resist fire with structures such as thick bark or deep root systems, making them extremely adaptable to areas that see frequent fire from lighting strikes. Active pyrophytes : are dependent on fire to eliminate com...

  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 fi...