Conservancy Plans Fires to Improve Coastal Plain Preserves

DURHAM — The ecological health of Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve and Green Swamp Preserve depend on fire; that’s why The Nature Conservancy will conduct controlled burns on the preserves from December through March. Conservancy experts will also burn parts of Myrtle Head Savanna in Brunswick County, Old Dock Savanna in Columbus County and Angola Creek Savanna in Pender County.

Fires once occurred in regular intervals in the coastal plain. These were typically low-intensity fires fueled by grass and pine straw, which kept hardwood trees at bay and allowed the longleaf pines and other species to thrive in the open. All that changed in the last century, when emphasis was placed on fire suppression and land managers lost sight of the fact that fire is important in maintaining some landscapes.

“Some ecosystems need fire,” says Margit Bucher, who heads the Conservancy’s fire program in North Carolina. “When we conduct a controlled burn, we are doing nature’s work.”

Controlled burning is a science, and burns are carefully planned and conducted. Nature Conservancy staff look at an area and determine if its ecology can benefit from fire. They develop a fire plan for the site that lays out the conditions under which a fire can achieve its ecological goals, which typically are to knock back competing species like young hardwood trees and reduce the amount of dead material lying around, while allowing the fire-adapted species such as long leaf pine and pitcher plants to flourish in the opened area. After the fire, the Conservancy monitors the burned area to see if it met the ecological goals.

The Nature Conservancy owns the property where it will be conducting controlled burns at Green Swamp Preserve, Old Dock Savanna, Myrtle Head Savanna and Angola Creek Savanna. The area to be burned at Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve is owned by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Resources Plant Conservation Program. Parts of Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve and Green Swamp Preserve are open to the public. The Conservancy is working to restore those two areas, so visitors can experience firsthand the coastal plain pine forests that once covered most of southeast North Carolina.

For more information on these controlled burns, contact the Conservancy’s Southeast Coastal Plain Fire Specialist Angie Carl at (910) 395-5000 or acarl@tnc.org.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.