Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge

The Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge (LSNWR or Refuge) will conduct two habitat restoration projects that will also serve as prescribed fire safety and wildfire risk reduction efforts. The Refuge’s pine forests were heavily impacted by clearcutting old growth and then followed by multiple generations of replanting under intensive tree farming operations. Since the Refuge’s establishment in 1979 the regrowth of the forest has reached a state where the mid- and understory in this ecological successional phase has proceeded with such a vengeance that it has also created a situation of wildfire risk and presents access challenges as the forest encroaches on our road and trail system.

The first project is a 330-acre longleaf pine habitat restoration project covering 23 sites in Dixie County east of County Road 349. This restoration project is a site conversion from slash pine to longleaf pine. Mastication to reduce palmetto, gallberry, and woody mid- and understory vegetation will be followed by a herbicide application to prepare the site for planting 300,000 containerized longleaf pine seedlings. Work is beginning in May 2023 and is anticipated to be completed in early 2024.

The second project is to reduce roadside hazard fuel loads on 70 miles of LSNWR roads. Refuge roads serve as fire breaks for burn units, buffers for Wildland Urban Interfaces, and access for fire equipment while conducting controlled burns and wildfire suppression. Due to lack of funding for road maintenance over the years combined with the forest’s ecological successional growth in the absence of what used to be controlled by commercial logging before this place was a National Wildlife Refuge, roadside fuel loads have become a fire hazard, causing spot-overs during control burns and wildfires. The dense forest growth alongside and overhead also restricts and limits access and the types of access with equipment required for prescribed and wildfire operations. The project will remove hazard fuels 20 feet horizontal distance either side of road center line creating a right-of-way 40 feet wide. Overhanging tree limbs within the 40-foot right-of-way to a height of 15 feet vertical distance from road surface will be removed. In essence it will allow a greater degree of safety and access during wildfire control and while conducting controlled burns.

Vegetation removal will consist of onsite mastication/mulching with heavy equipment, and/or hand removal and chipping. Vegetation removal will be followed up with herbicide application to control regrowth of palm trees, hardwoods, dense woody fuels, and palmettos alongside roadways. This herbicide application encourages grass/herbaceous and flowering plant growth for pollinators, a habitat that is lacking on the Refuge. Work is expected to start this summer and be completed in early 2024.

Any questions can be directed to Andrew Gude, Refuge Manager, at 703.622.3896.