• Ground Cover: Very Sparse to non-existent.  Herbaceous wetland plants such as arrowhead, pickerelweed, lizard's-tail, royal and cinnamon fern are common. Typically short sparse individual shrubs and small trees such as red bay, sweet bay, loblolly bay, and red maple.  Other flammable shrubs such as fetterbush and gallberry are common but sparse except at ecotonal edges.
• Duff/Litter Layer: Significant dead downed woody debris are common. Abundant peat moss and fern thatch material dominate surface fuel cover.  But due to regular inundation or generally common high moisture conditions, the components of this structural layer are not found as available fuels.
• Soils: Organic histisol (will burn if dry). Typically Hontoon or Samsula mucky soils.

FUEL MODEL:

Fuel Model 7 is best fit for modeling fire behavior of this stage.  Fires burn across the surface and shrub layer quickly and continuously, even when fuels contain high moisture contents (Anderson, 1982).

TYPICAL FIRE BEHAVIOR:

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

DESIRED STAGE:

This single stage community is in the condition at which bayhead communities are to be maintained.

RESTORATION/MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL:

• Restoration Phase:
  • No restoration required.
• Maintenance/Management Phase:
  • Avoid any soil disturbing activities or treatments that rut organic soils.
  • Select moisture conditions for prescribed fire that allow fire spread from surrounding Flatwoods habitat to barely penetrate and scorch system periphery vegetation.
• Special Management Concerns:
  • Soil disturbance as avenue for exotics.
  • Avoid hydrologic/topographic alteration such as ditching and fire-plow scars.
  • Bayheads may invade seasonal ponds (Landman and Manges, 1999).

EEL SITES WHERE BAYHEAD COMMUNITY OCCURS

• Micco Scrub Sanctuary  -   Jordan Scrub Sanctuary
• Malabar Scrub Sanctuary  -   Helen & Allan Cruickshank Sanctuary
• Valkaria Scrub Sanctuary  -   Buck Lake Conservation Area