Prescribed Burn Set for Longleaf Pine Preserve February 11.

Written Kristen Schmutz

Belden Communications News

According to a release, with the favorable cooler weather conditions, Volusia County’s Land Management staff will conduct a prescribed burn on, February 11.

Volusia County’s Land Management staff will conduct a 60-acre prescribed burn today, Feb. 11, at Longleaf Pine Preserve. The burn will take place north of Pioneer Trail and west of Airstrip Road. Trails and public use will not be impacted.

Historically, nature provided all the tools needed to maintain healthy habitats of natural lands. With the advent of fire suppression, fragmentation due to development, exotic species, and user impacts, most natural lands are overgrown. Human intervention is now needed to provide the factors necessary for a healthy habitat.

To restore and maintain the diversity of the ecosystems, prescribed fire is one of the many tools Volusia County uses to manage conservation lands.

Prescribed fire has many benefits, such as eliminating dry and overgrown vegetation, reducing the risk of wildfires, increasing seeding, fruiting, and forage quality in plants, and improving wildlife habitats. 

While other land management treatments are sometimes used, prescribed fire is the most efficient, because of the complex chemical, biological and physical processes that fire stimulates. 

For more information about prescribed burns, visit volusia.org/prescribed-burning.