Home Introduction Physical Setting Urbanization Natural Hazards Mineral Resources Water System Environmental Quality Outdoor Recreation Everglades N.P. - Wildlife Resources - Drainage > Wildfires & Burnings - Park Concerns - Visitors Coastal Zone Fish & Wildlife Miccosukee Indians Conclusion References

After canals and roads disrupted and diverted the natural water supply to the park, the effect of droughts became more severe, and effects of wildfires more devastating. Since these fires occurred often during the dry season, they burned over wider areas and deeper into the peat reducing the amount of soil. Understandably much has been done to control and prevent these wildfires, but fire prevention on a large scale causes problems too. Fire fighting equipment leaves deep tire and tread tracks that mar and change the land for a long time. Unburned areas, protected against fire for too long, begin to change in character; hardwood trees crowd out the young pines, and the saw grass grows tall and thick shading out the small species of marsh plants.

Before Burn [larger image]		During Burn [larger image]		After Burn [larger image]
Without fires pinelands become choked by hardwoods. Following a prescribed burn, the fire resistant pines and saw palmetto remain.

Currently, small prescribed fires are considered useful in helping to prevent major wildfires. By timing fires with the wind and water conditions, park managers burn random small patches which consumes potential fuel and at the same time creates fire breaks. These fire breaks keep natural or unplanned fires within smaller, more controllable limits. In addition, prescribed burning suppresses the growth of the hardwood understory in the pinelands and helps control the accumulation of old sawgrass. Park managers use fire both to prevent big dangerous fires and to groom the natural habitats like marshes and pinelands so that they retain their natural conditions.

The number of acres burned by wildfires increases during periods of drought. Fires occurring during droughts are especially damaging because they burn deeply into the peat and extend over large areas. [larger image]

A severe water shortage caused by the normal dry season but aggravated by diverting and impounding the natural water flow led to a prolonged and damaging drought throughout the park from 1962 to 1965. [larger image]		The role of the hurricane in the Everglades is both beneficial and destructive. Hurricanes provide water and sometimes bring new seeds from the tropics, but they also cause flooding, salt intrusion, and vegetation damage. [larger image]

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