If you've never been out to the Sun 'N Lake Preserve in Sebring, you are missing a wonderful natural experience. The 1,350-acre wildlife preserve is composed of a mosaic of plant communities including pine flatwoods, cypress swamps, hardwood hammocks, bayheads, marshes, and hardwood swamps. This pristine site is at the end of Sun 'N Lake Boulevard. Only walkers and bicyclers may enter since there are no motorized vehicles allowed inside the gates.
When it comes to natural areas, some folks think that if you leave a piece of land alone, it will be just fine, but that is not usually the case. The land actually needs to be managed to keep it in its pristine condition. If the land isn't managed properly, exotic species may take over, succession will occur and pretty soon, the area is no longer hospitable to the plants and animals that have always lived there. Management activities that are generally performed in environmental areas include prescribed fire, roller chopping, selective thinning and exotic removal. Each practice is important to specific areas for specific reasons.
Many plant communities are fire dependent, which means they need fire to survive. The pine flatwood community is one of these areas. Pines need the sun. When hardwood trees, such as oaks begin to grow in these areas, they shade out the sun-loving pines, which cannot reproduce without an open area and lots of sunshine. Without fire, eventually the pine forest will become a hammock.
You may be asking, why is this so bad? The pine flatwood community supports thousands of species of flora and fauna that cannot survive anywhere else. If all their sources of food, shelter and type of community are no longer available, they will perish.
Prescribed burns are performed mainly to reduce fuel on the forest floor and kill hardwood trees that threaten to take over the pine forests. The survival and resilience of many plant species depend on the nutrients the burning provides to the soil. Burning permits new growth of many species, especially wildflowers. A variety of wildlife species are attracted to lower lying vegetation, which is provided after a burn. Another very important reason to burn on a regular basis is for safety. When certain plant communities are not burnt for many years, fuels build up on the forest floor. Pine needles, dead branches, leaves and vegetation are very attractive to wildfires. Keeping these fuels to a minimum seriously reduces the possibility of wildfire, keeping nearby residences and other structures out of harm's way.
There was a time when fire was a common and natural occurrence. Frequently, especially in the summer months when weather can be severe, lightening would strike a pine tree, shrub or grasses and start a raging flame throughout the forests. The fire would burn for miles until it met up with a natural fire break such as a lake, swamp or hardwood hammock. Once the blazes met up with the wetter areas, they would go out.
With this in mind, it is easy to understand why fire is still important to our remaining natural areas. However, with hospitals, residences, schools, roads and other human inhabited structures all around, fire is not a very welcome visitor. That is why mankind must occasionally step in and lend Mother Nature a helping hand by burning in a safe and planned manner.
Now hopefully you understand why fire is important as a tool. Prescribed burns are very carefully written prescriptions for a specific area that requires fire to survive. Many factors such as weather, ground moisture, wind speed and direction, and humidity are calculated into the prescription. If any of these factors are not ideal, the burn does not happen that day.
Recently a prescribed burn was performed in the northern most sections of the Sun 'N Lake Preserve. Within the next couple of weeks, two more burns will be done north of gate six.
Very soon, the new growth will begin to emerge from the ashes. Animals will come to forage in the wide open spaces where food is readily available. Wildflowers will begin to pop up all over, giving the forest floor a burst of color. As it was in the past, the plant communities that were touched by fire will thrive, rejuvenate, and regenerate.
Sunday, February 10, 2013 - www.newssun.com/021013-watershed