The Pine Savannas

My current job is at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge in Gautier, MS.  One of the main purposes of the refuge is maintaining the pine savannas, which are specific and ideal habitats for many species of concern.  Henslow's sparrows, Bachman's sparrows, yellow rails, and the Mississippi subspecies of sandhill cranes all use these savannas, but they can become overgrown and unsuitable after several years.  The refuge keeps these savannas in good condition through prescribed burns, which are fires that are planned and controlled to burn specific areas.  The refuge is broken into many units that represent different burn regimes.  These regimes are dependent on how many years since the burn occurred and what time of year they occurred.  For example, some units were burned two years ago in the dormant season.  Part of the work I am doing with yellow rails is determining what burn regimes the rails prefer.  The different burn timings create shrubbier or grassier results, and over time the savannas tend to get more and more woody growth, regardless of burn timing.  Here are a couple pictures from a stormy day on the savannas.

Older, shrubbier savanna

Savanna that was burned a week prior to the photo

Fresh growth from a dormant season burn that occurred a week prior to this photo.

Little Blue Heron

Little Blue Heron (back-left) and Tricolored Heron (front-right)

Female Belted Kingfisher

Answers to Questions:

The fire team keeps the burns within controlled areas by creating fire lines or fire breaks, which are lines around the unit that are dug up and somewhat tilled to remove the flammable vegetation.  These lines are maintained just in case of an unexpected wildfire as well.  With only dirt and mud in these lines, the fire cannot jump over to adjacent units.  The refuge is extremely careful about choosing the correct winds and conditions for a burn, so that there is no chance of the fire crossing these lines.  They must also be cautious of preventing smoke from crossing local roads, and Interstate 10.