Benefits of Prescribed Burning
Prescribed burning is a cost-effective and efficient tool for land managers in Florida. It offers many benefits for people and the environment. It prepares areas for seeding or planting by clearing debris that can hinder tree replanting. While natural decay slowly returns nutrients to the soil, burning speeds up this process more effectively.
Wildfire Risk Reduction: Prescribed burns clear dangerous fuel buildup in overgrown areas, reducing the risk and severity of wildfires. This serves to protect the public and their property from the risk of catastrophic wildfire.
Recreational Opportunities: Prescribed burning revitalizes natural systems, encourages the growth of desirable trees and wildflowers and keeps the landscape open and park-like. This enhances the aesthetic value of the land and makes it easier to access for recreational users such as hikers, hunters, bicyclists and wildlife viewers.
Ecosystem Maintenance: Many of Florida’s natural systems depend on periodic, low-intensity fires. Without fire, they will experience dramatic structural changes. For example, without fire, a sandhill ecosystem shifts from an open, grassy landscape to a dense, oak-choked area.
Certain important native plant species, such as wiregrass and longleaf pine trees, require fire to successfully complete their life cycles and spread. In the absence of fire, these species will be lost on the landscape.
Native Wildlife Protection: Prescribed burning is essential for the proper management of natural systems and many of our wildlife species benefit. Fire promotes healthy natural systems that can produce sufficient food for wildlife by stimulating new, more palatable vegetation growth and encouraging seed and fruit production.
Fire also maintains the habitat structure some species require in order to remain in the landscape. If fire is kept away for too long, some endangered species may vanish from their homes. This includes the Florida scrub-jay and the red-cockaded woodpecker.