Hearth is a important pressure driving the ecology of South Florida. Traditionally sparked by cloud-to-ground lightning strikes or ignited by Indigenous peoples, frequent fireplace reduces gas masses, defending folks and property whereas supporting a various panorama that helps wildlife thrive. At Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, a wide range of habitats and wildlife developed to depend upon fireplace. With main targets of lowering hazardous fuels and sustaining a wholesome ecosystem, prescribed fireplace is a vital software within the conservation staff’s toolbox for managing the 13,000-acre Sanctuary. Audubon employees burn tons of of acres of pine flatwoods, moist prairie, and marsh annually.
Quite a lot of animals additionally depend on fireplace to open areas for journey and to supply a supply of recent progress for foraging, particularly white-tailed deer, Florida black bear, and several other species of birds. Hearth creates important habitat for Wild Turkeys, which forage for bugs in burned areas. However few birds are as fire-dependent because the Northern Bobwhite. Often called “fireplace birds,” these quail depend on the nesting cowl and regrowth of native grasses that fireplace brings. With a rise in fireplace frequency lately, bobwhites are being seen extra often within the Sanctuary and energetic nests have been discovered this yr for the primary time in a long time.
Many Floridians know prescribed fireplace is essential, not just for habitat well being, however to guard our communities from catastrophic wildfire.
– Allyson Webb, Land Stewardship Supervisor
Whereas lightning-strike-induced fireplace has formed Florida’s landscapes for millennia, pure fires right this moment are extinguished shortly as a result of rising presence of human communities in fire-prone places. The advantages of prescribed fireplace lengthen properly past wildlife habitat. Utilizing frequent, low-intensity fires to forestall high-intensity wildfires is likely one of the most essential issues Audubon can do for wildlife and other people.
This text was printed within the 2026 Summer time Naturalist.
