Prescribed burn set for Hickory Bluff Preserve

Volusia County’s Land Management staff plan to conduct a 19-acre prescribed burn tomorrow, Jan. 12, at Hickory Bluff Preserve, Osteen. The burn will take place on the southern portion of the property between the blue and red trails. These trails will be closed temporarily during this time.

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 effective, because of the complex chemical, biological and physical processes that fire stimulates.

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