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Fire crew in Belize

The fire training group in Belize. Blane is in the front row, wearing the red bandana. Photo © Steve Morrison/TNC 

Prescribed fire in Belize

Diary of a Burn Boss

By Blane Heumann
Director of Stewardship, The Nature Conservancy in Missouri

February 2008
 

Editor’s note: In late February, Blane Heumann, fire manager for the Conservancy in Missouri, traveled to Belize to conduct fire management training. Last year, we brought you Blane’s fire diary from Missouri. Now we bring you the latest installment from Belize.

Fire in Belize—fire management training in the Toledo District of southern Belize

The Conservancy is helping conserve the tropical pine savanna grasslands, which is one of the most globally endangered natural systems. Large portions of Central America, including parts of southern Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Nicaragua, have areas of Caribbean pine savanna grasslands in conservation protected status.

However, these grassland habitats are fire-adapted natural communities that are actually being damaged by wildfires that burn too hot, too often and too late in the tropical dry season to allow pine trees to reproduce. By burning earlier in the season, these savannas can benefit from fire. This eliminates the threat of too much fire and allows the pine trees to reproduce.

The Conservancy has been working in fire management in both Central America and the United States with success in recent years. An invitation from Belize conservation partner groups in conjunction with the Conservancy’s Belize program resulted in fire staff from the Conservancy in Missouri and Florida traveling to southern Belize and teaching a hands-on course in the use of fire in pine savanna habitat.

Blane: When I got the call to make the trip, it sounded exotic. It sounded like a great way to escape the cold winter weather of Missouri. It sounded like a vacation. But the little voice in the back of my head was saying that fire is a serious business. It was saying that there are diseases and bugs in the tropics. It was saying that tourists do not usually go to savannas that need fire management and that little, small detail could mean language and cultural differences.

Once the trip was under way, the reality of the place was much more than I could have imagined. It was exotic plants and animals. It was an escape from the cold and ice storms of Missouri. It was also serious business. It was a different language (actually several languages.) The bugs were on holiday at the start of the dry season (except for ants that invade your clothes and bite). And it was HOT. It was tropical sun, bake your brain, why would you go and start a fire in grass kind of hot. 

Next:   Day One in Belize
Back:  Blane's First Entry


 Above Photo:  Prescribed fire in Belize © TNC