| |
Dave Dadurka, The Author
© Wesley Knapp
Vegetation on burn unit before prescribed fire
© Dave Dadurka / TNC
Test fire and drip torch
© Dave Dadurka / TNC
Creating the wet line
© Dave Dadurka / TNC
|
Prescribed Burn at Dorchester Pond
By Dave Dadurka
The Nature Conservancy in Maryland/DC conducted its first prescribed burn in over 10 years on Conservancy-owned land in the state in February. The prescribed fire took place at the Dorchester Pond preserve, the site of one of the largest Delmarva bays on the Eastern Shore. A prescribed burn is an intentionally ignited and carefully managed fire used to return landscapes to their natural balance with fire, benefiting plant and animal species that have evolved to rely on fire for survival. The Conservancy’s Dave Dadurka traveled with the Maryland/DC chapter’s stewardship staff to observe. Below is an excerpt of his notes from the field.
February 1, 2006 – The night before the burn
11:30 p.m.
It’s the night before I go to observe a prescribed burn at the Maryland/DC chapter’s Dorchester Pond preserve. I was introduced to the devastating effects of fire as a newspaper reporter. One of my first news stories involved a father and his children whose trailer had been destroyed by fire. The little girl had lost her cat in the fire and though the family was unharmed, they’d lost everything they owned.
My prejudices toward fire go even deeper. My cousin died after a candle beside his bed fell into a basket of clothes. The clothes smoldered and he died of smoke inhalation.
I realize that fire, like death, is a natural part of life. But years of Smokey the Bear advertisements have succeeded at ingraining an anti-fire mentality in me.
Still, I’m beginning to understand fire’s value for conservation. Earlier in the week, I went to southeast Virginia for a news conference with the state’s Southern Rivers Project Director Brian van Eerden. On the way home from the news conference we stopped at the Conservancy’s Piney Grove Preserve, a pine savanna in Sussex County where the Virginia chapter conducted a prescribed burn back in May 2005.
The loblolly pines were spaced widely apart. Underneath the towering pines, bushy broom-sedge mixed with common broom-sedge. Fire promotes the growth of these native plants, which primes the setting for bugs, like wood roaches, food for the rare red-cockaded woodpecker. The Virginia chapter has seen an increase in the breeding population of red-cockaded woodpeckers.
-
Global Fire Initiative
The Global Fire Initiative develops solutions that allow fire to play a role in places where it benefits nature, and keep fire out of places where it is destructive
Join The Nature Conservancy on