Fort Worth may see more prescribed burns as city officials say its current program has moved from a ‘snail’s pace’ to a sprint.
The City of Fort Worth has long used prescribed burns to treat natural areas, having been recognized as a trailblazer for the activity since the 1980s. The city announced last year that the Park & Recreation Department will be employing prescribed fires in different sections, including Chisholm Trail Park, Rolling Hills Tree Farm, and Casino Beach Park, to reduce wildfire risks, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The prescribed burn at Casino Beach took place before Christmas, and the other burns are scheduled between January and February. Jared Hall, natural resources manager for the city’s parks department who had pushed for burns at the aforementioned sites, clarified that these fires are well planned and not done haphazardly.
“We’re not just lighting fire all over town just to do it,” said Hall, according to the Fort Worth Report. “We have sensitive resources that we’re really trying to use the right tools to best manage so they’re not just sitting there. Invasive species have been a big, big issue in a lot of our areas, and that’s what we’re trying to combat and prevent.”
“There’s so much science that goes into it now that it takes months and months of planning to pull something like this off,” said Jared Wood, natural resources manager for the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge, according to FWR. “It’s not anywhere close to: ‘Hey, today’s sunny and feels good. Let’s light a match.’”
Wood and Hall also led a Prescribed Burn Workshop from January 10 through January 11 that allowed locals to discuss the nuances of a prescribed burn, including participating in or observing a live prescribed burn.
Rob Denkhaus, executive director of the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge, and other leaders have also supported more prescribed burns, noting their benefits to the local ecology.
“Societally, we’ve gone from Smokey the Bear, all fires are bad, to managed fires can be useful, and the all-fires-are-bad attitude has created these problems and amplified our problems,” said Denkhaus, per FWR.
Wood also said the city wants to add more measures to its ecological management “toolbox” for long-term solutions. Hall pointed out upcoming initiatives such as that with the Texas A&M Forest Service to remove invasive plant species. However, Wood said that officials must pick carefully to find the best measures for the city.
“We spent many, many years building up to this and it’s getting really exciting right now,” said Wood, per FWR. “But we also are always challenging each other to move slow, think this through and review all the scientific types of approaches so that whoever comes after us has something sound to work with.”
