EEL FIRE MANAGEMENT MANUAL -- Prepared by The Nature Conservancy
  
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS
  
 
Natural Community- Oak Scrub (Stage 4)
  
     
 
  • 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: Fuel Model 4 is best fit for modeling fire behavior of this stage.  Fuel burns very quickly and intensely due to the thick scrub understory and pine litter (Florida Natural Areas Inventory, 1990; Anderson, 1982).  Severity is typically high.  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). 

TYPICAL FIRE BEHAVIOR:  [Using FBPS: FM 4, 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 4 to stage 1 conditions.
  • Mechanical treatment (such as roller chopping) is necessary.
  • After mechanical treatment, many high intensity prescribed burns must be conducted (Breininger et al., 1999).  These fires should be conducted within a 2-10 year period, but no more than 20 years.  Since few if any jays can survive in such an overgrown oak scrub stage, there should be less concern for providing unburned areas for jays to resort to during a fire.
  • Maintenance/Management Phase:
  1. The community should be maintained at Stage 2 conditions, once achieved.
  2. The landscape surrounding oak scrub should be burned more frequently (about every 2-3 years) than oak scrub.  These fires should be allowed to burn into the scrub (Breininger et al., 1999).
  3. Extremely intense fires in patches may be needed at times to sterilize the soils and create sandy openings.
    4.
 
 
General Fire Effects & Management Considerations

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