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Controlled Burns Help Maintain Balance, Manager Says

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: January 11, 2008

PORT RICHEY, Fla. - PORT RICHEY, Fla. - For several hours Tuesday, West Pasco residents and drivers along U.S. 19 as far south as the Pinellas County line experienced a concern that is familiar to Floridians, as they saw a large, dark column of smoke billowing into the air.

Law enforcement agencies were flooded with calls from people wanting to know where and how big the fire was. As it turned out, as bad as it may have looked from a distance, the smoke emanating from the southern end of the Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park was a good thing, as park officials were fighting fire with fire.

"It was a prescribed burn," Park Manager Toby Brewer said.

Prescribed burns, also known as controlled burns, are an important part of park maintenance, Brewer explained. Conducted by park staff, they are part of a strategy to prevent large-scale wildfires by restoring natural processes that have been disturbed by human development.

"In the really old days, a lightning strike 20 miles inland could have easily burned for several weeks and reached many areas," Brewer explained.

It is believed that, unimpeded, most areas would be affected by a lightning-induced fire about every three years. That's how long it takes for dead grass, loose branches and leaves to build up to a level that would feed a large fire.

After years of policies designed to prevent all fires all the time, it was realized that fire serves many positive purposes.

"Fire allows for diversity in plants, instead of certain plants crowding out and taking over areas," Brewer said. "With that, certain wildlife dependent on the diversity can get forced out as well.

"Fire creates ash, which is a very good natural fertilizer, and the new fresh grasses and leaves become a rich food source for wildlife."

Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park covers 4,000 acres, about 600 of which are what are considered "fire dependent," meaning they need the occasional fire to clear out all the dead vegetative material that could fuel a wildfire.

Residential development completely hems in the park. So without regularly scheduled prescribed burns, the ecosystems would suffer the effects of imbalance and the area would pose an extreme danger to the surrounding neighborhoods once something inevitably did set it off.

Brewer said the park burns its entire fire dependent acreage every three years, about 200 acres a year. The fires are confined to small areas, and are done when weather and other conditions are just right to ensure they can remain controlled and pose no threat to the surrounding area or indigenous wildlife.

Tuesday's prescribed burn took place in an area adjacent to the Westport subdivision, literally a stone's throw from private homes. The fire burned six acres of upland pine and five acres of salt marsh needle grass. Yet if anyone in the subdivision had their back turned to the fire, they would not have known anything was going on. A few residents watched the burn from their front porches.

A landscaping crew worked on a lawn as though they hadn't even noticed the giant, billowing cloud emanating just a few hundred yards away.

"We work hard to keep the heavy smoke and flames moving away from the public and public areas," Brewer said.

It also safeguards the future health of the neighborhood and the park.

"Most everything will be back nice and green in a few weeks," Brewer said.

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