Abaco Fire Project

The project will involve personnel from Bahamian natural resource managers (including the Bahamas National Trust, Department of Agriculture and Department of Lands and Surveys), the Marsh Harbor Volunteer Fire Department, Abaco Friends of the Environment and The Nature Conservancy with assistance from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. National Park Service. The main objective of the project is to plan and implement several prescribed burns on Abaco, the pine island of The Bahamas which offers the most logistical support for initiating the project.

The project is intended as a pilot project to be used as the basis for the development of ecological fire management capacity for the pineforests of The Bahamas. Such capacity is critical for the long-term maintenance of these forests and the economic and biological values that they support. Working knowledge of fire management practices,including prescribed fire, may also prove invaluable for reduction of the threat of wildfire to the residents of the pine islands.

• Enhance the ability of Bahamians to safely and effectively plan and implement prescribed fires to accomplish natural resource
• management and public safety objectives
• Provide areas of known fire history to begin research on fire effects relevant to endangered species management (i.e. the
• Bahama parrot), ecosystem maintenance, fresh water production (i.e. well fields) and commercial forestry operations
• Provide a focal point for outreach to the Abaco community concerning the importance of fire to both the ecosystem and public
• safety (via hazardous fuel reduction)
• Develop expertise that can be shared among the other pine islands (i.e. Andros, Grand Bahama and New Providence)

For more information please contact Eric Carey.