In addition to an ongoing reverse treasure hunt to rid the preserve of trash to improve the appearance of this place, I'd like to see fire to improve the ecological diversity, if that's the right term. The plan at the moment is to come in with machinery and to thin the tree canopy, which will expose more areas to sun and allow some plants that were shaded out to grow or to at least grow with more vigor. I saw some gyrochopping near the Kissimmee River a few weeks ago and I can't say that I was impressed. In that case it didn't seem much different from rollerchopping or bushhogging. You can trim the vegetation and like a lawn new growth will return. However, it doesn't return the nutrients to the soil and perform the renewal that a well-planned (or even an unplanned fire) will do. The accompanying photos give an example of what happened when there was an accidental fire in., I believe, 2004. The fire spurred the growth of Sky Blue Lupine (Lupinus diffusus), a plant that had never been recorded here before. The fire activated an old seed bank. There's a sneaking suspicion it could bring some other species back, such as Carter's Warea (Warea carteri), which is a lot less widespread than the common lupine. The dream would be to spur the growth of a seed bank, if there is any, of McFarlin's Lupine (Lupinus aridorum), which once grew within a mile of here.
I guess the resistance comes from the fact that there are neighbors who would have to be protected from the flames and the smoke if fire occurs. That's not an insurmountable problem, though. It is done elsewhere. One day, with the fuels buildup, especially on the north side in the Sand Pine-Longleaf Pine ecotone, a good south wind and a lightning strike could be tragic for some of the neighbors. There's a health clinic down the street, too. I talked to the director and he told me the smoke could be a useful educational tool for emphysema patients to learn how to deal with situations like this.
Meanwhile, the fire lanes are growing up again, the years without a serious fire increase the odds and somewhere out there a lightning bolt has our name on it. A prescribed burn would be better, but at this point I'm willing to take what comes as long as no one gets hurt
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