Prescribed burn set for today at Longleaf Pine Preserve

Posted On: February 1, 2022

Volusia County’s Resource Stewardship Division will conduct a 25-acre prescribed burn beginning at 11 a.m. today in Longleaf Pine Preserve, which is east of the Volusia County Fairgrounds.

The burn will take place on the northern portion of the property, south of Boy Scout Road. There will be no impact to public use.

For more information about the burn, call the Resource Stewardship Division at 386-943-7081.

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.