Birth and Regrowth Follow Corkscrew Prescribed Fire in Florida

Fireplace is a important power driving the ecology of South Florida. Traditionally sparked by cloud-to-ground lightning strikes or ignited by Indigenous peoples, frequent fireplace reduces gasoline hundreds, defending folks and property whereas supporting a various panorama that helps wildlife thrive. At Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, quite a lot of habitats and wildlife advanced to rely on fireplace. With major targets of decreasing hazardous fuels and sustaining a wholesome ecosystem, prescribed fireplace is a crucial software within the conservation group’s toolbox for managing the 13,000-acre Sanctuary. Audubon employees burn a whole lot of acres of pine flatwoods, moist prairie, and marsh every year.

Quite a lot of animals additionally depend on fireplace to open areas for journey and to offer a supply of latest development for foraging, particularly white-tailed deer, Florida black bear, and several other species of birds. Fireplace creates important habitat for Wild Turkeys, which forage for bugs in burned areas. However few birds are as fire-dependent because the Northern Bobwhite. Generally known as “fireplace birds,” these quail depend on the nesting cowl and regrowth of native grasses that fireside brings. With a rise in fireplace frequency in recent times, bobwhites are being seen extra often within the Sanctuary and lively 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 now are extinguished rapidly as a result of rising presence of human communities in fire-prone places. The advantages of prescribed fireplace prolong nicely past wildlife habitat. Utilizing frequent, low-intensity fires to stop high-intensity wildfires is among the most essential issues Audubon can do for wildlife and other people.

This text was revealed within the 2026 Summer time Naturalist.