EEL FIRE MANAGEMENT MANUAL -- Prepared by The Nature Conservancy
  
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS
  
 
Natural Community- Oak Scrub (Stage 3)
  
     
 
  • Duff/Litter Layer: Oak and pine litter cover most ground and may be dense in areas. Duff present and may be dense in areas (Myers, 1990).
  • Soils: Very well drained, deep, white sands that are nutrient-poor and infertile (Florida Natural Areas Inventory, 1990; Myers, 1990).  Typical soil types include Archbold, Daytona, Duette, Hobe, Paola, Pomello, Resota, St. Lucie, Satellite, and Welaka (Soil Conservation Society of America, 1987).

FUEL MODEL: Either Fuel Model 4 or Fuel Model 7 could represent the fire behavior of this stage.  As a Fuel Model 4, Fuel burns very quickly and intensely due to the thick scrub understory and pine litter (Florida Natural Areas Inventory, 1990; Anderson, 1982).  Extreme burning conditions must exist for scrub to burn, such as high temperatures, high winds, low humidities and low fuel moistures.  Seldom do fires ignite and sustain themselves in scrub; rather, fires most often ignite in neighboring communities and burn into the scrub community.  Fires usually burn into the crowns of the pines creating severe stand-replacing burning conditions.  While most of the shrubs are severely cut back, many eventually resprout, returning to preburn conditions within a few years (Myers, 1990; Schmalzer and Hinkle, 1992b).  Heavy palmetto may change the Fuel Model to a 7.  In a Fuel Model 7 community, fires burn across the surface and shrub layer quickly and continuously, even when fuels contain high moisture contents.  Fire intensities may be high due to high flammability of the fuels (Anderson, 1982).  Severity is also typically high.

TYPICAL FIRE BEHAVIOR:  [Using FBPS: FM 4/7, FFM 8, LFM 100, MFW 5 - 10] (Refer to page 32)		  
   
 

DESIRED STAGE: Oak scrub - Stage 2 (short/optimal mix).  Open sand pine overstory (0 - 15% cover).  Several bare sandy patches with shrubs up to 4 feet tall, never taller than 5 feet.  Oaks dominate midstory with saw palmetto, Lyonia and rosemary.  Ground layer sparse to dense of gopher apple and lichens. Oak and pine litter build-up in areas.  Fuel Model 6.

RESTORATION/MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL

  • Restoration Phase:
  • Efforts should be made to restore oak scrub stage 3 to stage 1 conditions.
  • Several restoration fires should be conducted.
    If Scrub-jays are present, fires should be small and patchy so that no more than 25% of a scrub unit burns in a single fire.  Fires from surrounding communities should be allowed to burn into the scrub (Breininger et al., 1999).  If jays are not present in the unit, fewer but larger burns may be conducted.
  • Eventually, the entire scrub unit should burn as a mosaic within a 2-10 year period.  An even shorter amount of time may be used, but no more than 20 years.


  
 
General Fire Effects & Management Considerations

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