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| Longleaf pine forest to rise from ashes |
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2005/12/20
 he forest once slated to be Alachua County's garbage dump is slowly being engulfed by flames.
Rather than damage the forest, the controlled fire is being used to help re-establish the disappearing longleaf pine.
Balu Forest, near the intersection of State Road 26 and U.S. 301, was initially bought by the county to be a landfill. After the dump in New River was chosen as a replacement, county commissioners designated the more than 1,500-acre forest as a restoration project.
A prescribed burn done Wednesday on a 75-acre section is part of the restoration work, said Jib Davidson, a forester who co-owns Columbia Timber Co. About 290,000 longleaf pine seedlings were planted three years ago, he said, but the fires will help speed up the trees' lengthy growth period.
"If you can eliminate the competing vegetation, these trees will rock and roll," he said.
The three-needled longleaf pine once dominated the southeast United States, but was logged and largely replaced by faster growing slash pines. About 99 percent of the old longleaf forest in the southeast is now gone, said Robert "Hutch" Hutchinson, project manager of the Alachua Conservation Trust.
Hutchison helped develop the restoration project while he was an Alachua County commissioner. He said longleaf forests allow flora and fauna to thrive that don't fare as well among other trees.
"Restoring that very endangered ecosystem is the least we can do," he said.
The site could still possibly house a landfill one day, he said, but the majority of the property will remain forest. The trees will be logged and the revenue paid to the county. Longleaf produces higher-quality timber than other pines, he said, and that provides a better product to compete with foreign logging operations.
The burns are just part of restoration work that also includes planting native species near wetlands. The land is slated to be open to the public, but the exact details of those plans haven't yet been determined.
Davidson said controlled burns are done when wind conditions prevent smoke from wafting on to nearby roads. A gasoline-fueled flame is used to ignite brush, which spreads to surrounding vegetation with the right wind and humidity.
The state Division of Forestry is on hand for all burns to assist with the burn and supply fire plows, which are used to clear land on the fire's edge to prevent the flames from spreading.
The burns help prevent the chance of wildfires from occurring. A portion of the land was last logged in 1980, creating a potential tinderbox susceptible to igniting in dry periods.
Burning saw palmetto also reduces competition and clears land for growing longleaf, Davidson said. Charred saw palmetto from a burn that happened five weeks ago are evidence of the fire's effect.
But green tufts emerging from the blackened stalks show the resilience of the plant and need for repeated burns to clear land, Davidson said. The project will take decades before the longleaf forest is fully established.
"Our goal is simply to give it a little helping hand and speed that up a little bit," he said.
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