Year of Fire

There’s more progress to report in this final “Year of Fire” installment.

Everything lined up on September 7 for another prescribed fire in the 2016 timber harvest unit, across the road from the Catawba River Area gate. Drier conditions and a bit more wind than the August 27 attempt made for productive fire effects on the thick hardwood and pine regeneration that threatened to crowd out the native grasses and plants trying to gain a foothold at the 86-acre site.

Over the next few years, natural resource managers hope to reestablish a highly diverse habitat of understory plants and grasses growing amid an open canopy of oaks, hickories and pines. Prescribed fire will be an important tool to achieving that goal, but the journey will also require some chemical treatment of invasive species, like kudzu, tree-of-heaven and Chinese wisteria, as well as further mechanical thinning of aggressive, early successional trees, like yellow poplar, sweet gum and Virginia pine.

As the plants and trees revert to their natural, fire-adapted state, other species will follow. Bird species like field sparrows, yellow-breasted chats, prairie warblers, red-headed woodpeckers, American woodcock and indigo buntings will find the food and cover they need to nest and raise their young. It’s possible, over time, the unit could support bobwhite quail, American kestrels and whip-poor-wills.

With several western states suffering through an unprecedented wildfire season, it’s important to recognize the added benefits of a robust prescribed fire program throughout the state park system in North Carolina. Carefully administered prescribed fire removes much of the dry fuels that can stoke a catastrophic wildfire. By periodically consuming dead, woody debris on the forest floor, prescribed fires protect natural and human resources.

As 2020 comes to a close, there’s certainly a lot to reflect upon. To say we’ve had a challenging year would be an understatement. Hopefully these bimonthly installments have given you assurance that, no matter what else is happening in the world, the folks at N.C. State Parks are dedicated to protecting and enhancing the beautiful, natural places we’ve been charged to oversee for the people of North Carolina.