Carbon Consequences: Modeling Future Fire Risk in North Florida
By E. Louise Loudermilk and J. Kevin Hiers
Prescribed burn in pine flatwoods
Extreme fire weather events are the major driver of wildfire in the Southeast, and prescribed fire is our best tool for mitigating those wildfires. Some specific landscapes in the region are particularly prone to large wildfires, including the swamps and pine flatwoods connecting the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to the Osceola National Forest. One of the unlikely forest types in that landscape that can contribute to extreme fire behavior are hardwood-cypress swamps. Under certain conditions, these ephemeral wetlands can work with their more frequently burned neighbors, pine flatwoods, to sustain immense wildfires, cause substantial smoke emissions, and deplete carbon stores in these forests. Pine flatwoods typically contain longleaf pines (Pinus palustris) and are managed with frequent prescribed fire and timber harvest.
Our colleagues, Dan Krofcheck and Matthew Hurteau at the University of New Mexico, and Robert Scheller at North Carolina State University worked with us on a recent study published in the journal Ecosphere and funded by the USDA Forest Service, Joint Fire Science Program to examine these complex interactions. At the Osceola National Forest in Florida, our group examined long-term management practices during extreme fire weather across these two vastly different, yet intertwined ecosystems.
Border between ecosystems on the Osceola National Forest
Like the longleaf pine forests in most of North Florida, the removal of fire is really the disturbance in pine flatwoods because, without fire, southern pine forests can quickly accumulate fuel loads for wildfire or eventually transition to a hardwood or shrub ecosystem within a few decades. This study looked at future forest outcomes of removing prescribed fire, using prescribed fire while targeting harvests in zones adjacent to wetlands, or leaving a standard rotation of prescribed fire within the landscape. We asked, what were the changes in wildfire, ecosystem and long-term carbon stocks given the inevitable onset of future wildfires under these management scenarios and anticipated changes in extreme fire weather?
We found that targeted placement and frequent application of management can limit large wildfires and maintain ecosystem carbon stocks through time. Model results showed that targeting overstory thinning treatments to the interface of the hardwood–cypress swamps and maintaining the pine flatwoods edges with prescribed burning limited the spread of high‐severity wildfire at the landscape scale during severe droughts. This strategy also maintained more stable landscape carbon levels. This study highlights the importance of understanding how changes to fire weather severity may alter future fire regimes and consequently carbon stability of these highly interspersed yet functionally dissimilar ecosystems. Optimizing prescribed fire and timber harvest at the landscape scale is critical to managing these risks in regions where wetlands can contribute to large fire growth, particularly during drought. This strategy sustains forest carbon which also leads to environmental stability, enabling the continued use of the forest’s resources, including hunting, birdwatching, and recreation regardless of changes in future drought severity.
Tall Timbers Receives Grant to Control Feral Swine
Tall Timbers received the Florida-Georgia Red Hills Region Pilot Feral Swine Control Grant in July of 2020. This is a joint project between Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – Wildlife Services (WS), and Tall Timbers. With funding from NRCS, Tall Timbers’ role is to supply the WS trappers with all necessary supplies for control techniques, conduct research and monitoring, and coordinate workshops and surveys. Wildlife Services is providing trapping services and workshops for Best Management Practice education to landowners and managers.
The purpose of this pilot project is to reduce feral swine (hogs) in the Red Hills Region by at least 75%, with a goal to reduce the physical damage hogs cause by at least 80%. To determine if goals have been achieved, Tall Timbers will monitor:
1. Native wildlife;
2. Water quality, including E. coli source tracing;
3. Feral swine population and control;
4. Economic impacts of feral swine;
5. Native habitat (upland and wetlands) and crop damage.
There are 17 such pilot projects nationwide, including one in the Albany area run by the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District, the Jones Center at Ichauway, and the University of Georgia-Athens. Collaboration between projects will improve outcomes and lessons learned. Ultimately, these pilot projects will inform the development of a nationwide feral swine control program and guidelines, as part of future Farm Bill programs.
At this time in the Red Hills, hog control has occurred on roughly 78,000 acres, starting along the Ochlockonee River heading east, but also moving north and south, following the hog population. In the next several months, the general plan is to move south to Interstate 10, east to the Aucilla River, and north to Thomasville. The goal is to have 90% property participation, so that we don’t have pockets of feral swine as source populations.
Acres being treated by Wildlife Services to control feral swine populations.
To enroll in the program, the land owner and manager will meet with wildlife services’ trappers and Tall Timbers’ staff to outline a mutually-agreeable work plan. All entities in this program understand that this is your private land, and we will be diligent to not get in the way of any of your activities. At the same time, we need to work together to obtain desired results. The landowner will need to allow Wildlife Services staff access to use feral swine control techniques, and Tall Timbers to do the monitoring. Once again, we are very flexible and can accommodate any needs of the property. For more information please contact Eric Staller or 850-508-5458, of Kim Sash or 850-545-3982.
Tall Timbers Scientists Partner with the Southern Fire Exchange to Share Information
Tall Timbers scientists partnered with the Southern Fire Exchange this spring to share cutting-edge fire science research and information through a series of free online webinars. The webinars covered topics ranging from an introduction to prescribed fire to the latest in research on longleaf pine forest ecology and fire behavior modeling. The Southern Fire Exchange (SFE) is a fire science communication and delivery partnership led by Tall Timbers, the University of Florida, NC State University and the USFS Southern Research Station with funding provided by grants from the federal Joint Fire Science Program. The webinars were part of an effort by SFE to increase virtual training opportunities for prescribed burners and wildland fire managers during COVID-19. Combined the four successful webinars reached over 880 attendees from all over the Southeast and across the world. The webinar presentations have been recorded and are now available for viewing on the Southern Fire Exchange YouTube Channel.
The Stoddard Plots — Six Decades of Change in Forest Structure
By Kevin Robertson, Fire Ecology Program Director
A recent publication predicted that old-field pinelands, much like those of Red Hills region, will ultimately lose their pine component and become closed canopy hardwood forests, even if treated with frequent fire. We are challenging that notion by revisiting data from the Stoddard Plots on Tall Timbers Research Station, to see how forest structure has changed over time under a frequent fire regime.
1-year interval Stoddard Plot being burned in March.
The Stoddard Plots are half-acre plots set up by Herbert Stoddard in 1960, two years after the establishment of Tall Timbers, with the goal of determining how different fire return intervals influence the vegetation and soils of old-field pinelands. Upon their establishment, Stoddard measured the species and diameters of trees greater than 4 cm diameter at breast height. Former Tall Timbers’ ecologist Sharon Hermann measured them again in 1994, and the Fire Ecology Lab measured them in 2011.
Figure 1 shows our results, with square symbols representing the average basal area for each category of trees and error bars showing standard deviation among the three replicate plots per fire treatment. The round symbols show data from the Pebble Hill plots in native longleaf pine-wiregrass communities burned at the same intervals.
Figure 1. Basal area at breast height per unit area of trees in different categories in the Tall Timbers Research Station Stoddard Plots (square symbols) burned at different fire return intervals since 1960, and in the Pebble Hill Fire Plots burned at different intervals since 2005. Error bars indicate standard deviation among three replicate plots.
In the 1-year fire interval (annually burned plots), there was no notable increase in off-site hardwoods (such as water oak and sweet gum that historically were in wetter environments) or in native upland hardwoods (like southern red oak and mockernut hickory that were historically in uplands). Loblolly pine decreased some, and shortleaf pine increased slightly.
In the 2-year interval plots, the hardwoods once again did not significantly increase, loblolly pine decreased, and shortleaf pine increased substantially.
In the 3-year interval plots, hardwoods similarly did not increase over time, loblolly pine stayed about the same, and shortleaf pine increased a great deal.
In the unburned plots, off-site hardwood increased dramatically, and other categories of trees remained about the same.
Total tree basal area increased with increasing fire return interval, corresponding to greater differences between old-field and native sites.
This evidence from the Stoddard Plots, which have not had mechanical or chemical treatment since their establishment 60 years ago, suggests that fire return intervals of 1-3 years prevent conversion to hardwood forests, although shortleaf pine is likely to increase over time. Shortleaf pine is a native, upland, fire-resistant pine species that provides pine needles as fuel for fires, so it is not likely to contribute to the plots transitioning to a fire-resistant community type.
Other management approaches, including thinning hardwoods, may be needed in more open woodlands, wetter areas, and other special cases. However, these results underscore the necessity and effectiveness of frequent fire for maintaining old-field pine communities for decades — without a trend toward hardwood dominance.
By Dave McElveen, Research Associate, Stoddard Bird Lab
It’s not every day we find a new wildlife species in our backyards. But that’s the case with the Intricate Satyr butterfly at Tall Timbers.
Known in the scientific world as Hermeuptychia intricata, the Intricate Satyr looks a lot like the Carolina Satyr and lives in the same areas, though they don’t interbreed. And that’s why it took so long to be discovered by science. It was hiding in plain sight! It wasn’t until 2014 that scientists in Texas looked at the DNA of various satyrs in south Texas and discovered the new species.
The Intricate Satyr uses woodoats and witchgrasses as its host plants. A host plant is where a butterfly lays its eggs and what the caterpillars feed on. Both are found along the swamp edges of Woodyard Hammock. With local lepidopterists Brian Lloyd and Eric Shaw, we set out to see if this new species may be inhabiting Tall Timbers. We walked down Beadle Road from SR 12 toward Lake Iamonia encountered satyrs right away. We netted 18 of them and after close examination found that at least 2 were Intricate Satyrs. Mission accomplished!
Distinguishing between Intricate and Carolina Satyrs can be tricky. Some individuals are clearly marked, but some show characteristics of both and can’t be easily distinguished. But no worries, they can tell the difference — they use scent to tell who is who. The arrows and line in the photos below indicate curves or lack thereof in wing markings that distinguish the two species for us humans.
The M-CORES program, which includes the proposed Suncoast Connector Toll Road in Jefferson County, passed through the Florida Legislature at breakneck speed with little review or analysis. Tall Timbers has a number of concerns given the potential for significant and wide spread impacts. These include fragmenting public and private conservation lands, robbing business from Main Street Monticello, impacting our rivers and other water resources, and making prescribed fire more difficult and costly.
Join us in asking the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners to OPPOSE the Suncoast Connector toll road and its path through Jefferson County.
Take action now with our easy email form.
Send an email to all five Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners with one click!
Selected Publications authored by Wildland Fire Science staff.
Educating and guiding the next generation of fire researchers and managers is a key goal of Wildland Fire Science and a resource for testing new ideas in fire research.
Tall Timbers hosts the Prescribed Fire Science Consortium, a national network of researchers and managers who promote integrated research and management to advance next generation tools for fire practitioners. https://arcg.is/1DSjDT
Working with partners in the Prescribed Fire Science Consortium, the program is building nexgen 3-D fuel beds using terrestrial LiDAR and novel sampling techniques to power new fire behavior models for prescribed fire managers. This work links to Tall Timbers work in wildlife habitat usage and ecological forestry.
Tall Timbers is leading an effort to map fire regimes at the landscape scale. Staff work with numerous agencies to evaluate fire records and satellite imagery to build this critical conservation database. https://skfb.ly/6DqOY
We are linking physics and field observations to understand the fluid dynamics of fire behavior surface fire regimes. Our work combines field observations using advanced thermal imaging techniques, laboratory studies, and coupled fire-atmospheric modeling to help managers improve outcomes of managed fire regimes.
Burn prioritization modeling seminars and fire modeling tools are supported by Wildland Fire Science to train managers in the important planning stages of prescribed fires.
The conserved lands of the Greater Red Hills region are found on working, income-producing properties that support agriculture, forestry, and recreational hunting. These properties contribute $272 million annually to local economies and support 2,300 jobs. [link to Planning & Advocacy section] The landowners’ strong stewardship ethic preserves their working lands while replenishing drinking water supplies, protecting water quality, and providing wildlife habitat for dozens of rare and endangered species. Tall Timbers’ conservation easements on these working properties encourage landowners to retain their traditional livelihood by keeping farms in family ownership.
Home to world-class wild quail populations, the Greater Red Hills region contains the largest concentration of gamebird preserves in the United States. These preserves also support the largest community of Red-cockaded woodpeckers on private lands. Indicators of high quality habitat found here include the gopher tortoise, Bachman’s sparrow, fox squirrel, and many amphibians. Tall Timbers’ conservation easements identify and protect the critical habitats of these species.
The region also boasts outstanding aquatic resources. Large river systems, like the Flint/Apalachicola, Ochlockonee, and Aucilla, flow from Georgia and feed into the Gulf of Mexico to support some of the world’s most productive estuaries. Large disappearing sinkhole lakes, like Iamonia, Miccosukee, and Jackson, provide habitat for an array of aquatic species and migratory birds. Tall Timbers’ conservation easements protect these vital watersheds and wetlands that are the lifeblood for the ecological health of the region.
Once dominated by longleaf pine, our pine woodlands support abundant wildlife and local economies. These forests need prescribed fire to stay healthy. Herbert L. Stoddard and his associates Ed and Roy Komarek were pioneers in this emerging scientific field during the mid-20th century. Tall Timbers continues that legacy with applied research on prescribed fire and land management. Today, there is a tremendous need to expand prescribed fire use beyond the Red Hills to ensure ecosystem health and reduce wildfire risk. Additionally, Tall Timbers uses conservation easements to permanently protect private woodlands while balancing the need for economic return from selective timbering.
Tall Timbers hosts the premier fire technology transfer organization—the Southern Fire Exchange. This JFSP funded effort helps connect research to management through webinars, workshops, and support of the Prescribed Fire Science Consortium.
The Longleaf Legacy landscape prescribed fire burn team arm of Wildland Fire Science works directly with landowners and partners to effectively put fire on the ground and promote prescribed fire throughout the region.
Staff and researchers support Federal fire training by serving as a cadre for NWCG training courses, ranging from basic wildland fire to advanced fire effects.
(PFTC) specializes in training fire fighters the principles and techniques of prescribed fire through practical hands-on experience. https://www.fws.gov/fire/pftc/
Private land owners are the largest source of prescribed fire in the country. These land owners and the culture of fire that was maintained by them during decades of suppression are a part of why Tall Timbers is a world-wide center for prescribed fire science. Workshops and fire training are a critical focus of the Longleaf Legacy Landscape Burn Team and our support of the Georgia Forestry Commission Prescribed Fire Center in Marion County.
