"If you have 10,000 acres out in the middle of nowhere, you can light all of it on fire in a day, be happy and go home."
It’s hard enough to plan for a prescribed fire in a nature preserve: The wind needs to be just right. Detailed maps are drawn. Plants should be dry.
But planning to burn at a preserve in the heart of St. Petersburg, one of Florida’s most densely populated cities, is harder still.
Not only do the weather conditions need to be perfect, but there’s extra consideration for the tens of thousands of people that live nearby. Fire departments are warned. Email alerts are sent. Neighborhoods are notified.
That’s why planned burns at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, just southwest of downtown St. Petersburg, can be so difficult. Yet the challenge makes prescribed fire at the 245-acre park that much more important to bolster native plants, curb invasive undergrowth and create better habitats overall for local wildlife nestled within a largely developed area.
Read more at the Tampa Bay Times