Prescribed Burning

   On the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary field trip, our tour guide/FGCU naturalist was telling us about prescribed burning. It is also known as controlled  burning or swailing. Apparently, forest fires are a healthy and important part of forest development. The fires help germination of some of the important trees and plants that help keep the ecosystem balanced. It also helps keep the soil nutrient rich and encourages new growth. These fires usually char a lot of the taller pines and oaks, but doesn't necessarily kill them.Usually these fires happen naturally after a certain number of years in flat woods areas of Florida, when leaf-litter and undergrowth is thick. The fires can be caused by lightning, or a number of other reasons.

    The state of Florida does controlled burning in many of the state and national parks. They do this so that they can control the time, area, and amount of acreage being burned. This way the wildfires don't get out of control and harm the surrounding human occupied areas. I never knew how important these controlled burns were until our trip to Corkscrew Swamp.