Cooperation Is Key to Successful Burn
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Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve recently conducted a successful prescribed burn thanks to excellent cooperation and support from the District office, park volunteers, and staff from nearby Manatee Springs State Park. Park Manager Jeff DiMaggio was also extremely pleased with the excellent support from the local Division of Forestry staff, who assisted with tractors and a Type 6 engine.
The DOF crews were able to carefully scrape the roads around the zone to improve the firebreaks without resorting to deep fire plow lines. Considering this zone has no recorded burn history since a catastrophic fire in 1955, this prescribed burn is a great accomplishment.
Much of the burn zone was mowed last year using Resource Restoration funding to restore scrub and scrubby flatwoods habitat for the threatened Florida scrub-jay and other rare species in the Reserve. Lowering of the high fuel loading by burning the scrubby and mesic flatwoods not only improves the condition of the flatwoods, but decreases the risk of future wildfires for nearby residential areas.
