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Prescribed Fire, Birds, Butterflies and other Wildlife

By Betty Salter, MINWR Volunteer

Fall 2008, my husband and I volunteered to document prescribed fires conducted by the Fire Management Team at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. After training with firefighters from other parts of the US who do prescribed fires, we were issued PPE(Personal Protective Equipment). We are now a part of the FMT at MINWR.

We document the fires and their results, but our primary interest is the fireÕs effect on the birds, butterflies and other wildlife...and educating the public.

Now for the best part...I watched scrubjays leave an area that was about to be burned and then return to that same area as soon as the flames went out and the smoke lifted...there are usually green areas left within burned areas. Eagles and vultures soar on the thermals created by the fires. Tree swallows have been ever present throughout the fires we have documented. I have pictures of deer, some standing in the firebreak others leaping across to safety.

The team knows how to do a burn so that wildlife escapes it, and they also know how to protect nesting areas. Amazingly, they determine how hot to make a fire in any given area and how to protect nests and buildings. The biologists at the refuge will say they want a really hot burn or a cool one in a particular area and the fire team complies, often with the biologists on the crew.

In one instance there was an osprey nest in a dead tree. Two members of the fire team went to that location and foamed the tree before burning out the area beneath/surrounding it. The dead snag and the nest were left unharmed even though the fly-over showed there was nothing in the nest, no eggs or young.

We have learned of more eagles nests since joining the team. They are very careful about what is present before they do a burn.

I had checked one area for butterflies before a burn and returned to that same area just two days after it was burned. I found fresh sand around the gopher tortoise boroughs and then I saw a Ceraunus Blue, a very little butterfly, flying in the midst of the ashes. There was evidence of other animals returning to the area, fresh tracks left in the sand and ashes. Fresh sand around Gopher tortoise boroughs, the presence of butterflies, ant lion funnels, birds flitting about, and all the tracks I saw lead me to believe that even just two days after a prescribed fire conducted appropriately, the wildlife flourishes.

Central Florida is the lightning capital of North America. Fire is an essential part of our environment. The FMT at MINWR uses fire to combat the consequences of thunderstorms that regularly occur here every summer.

Briefings before each fire inform about nests, bee hives, and buildings that must be protected. They include information about escape routes and alternate scenarios should the fire get out of control. I have been told there are two types of firefighters, those who have lost a fire and those who will lose one. These men and women are not fools, they know and respect fire. They know how to use the elements present to get a fire to behave as they want it to. Unfortunately even very specific weather forecasts for a given area can go wrong. In that case this team always has a back up plan.

As you can tell, I have a great respect for these valiant men and women.