Saturday morning I received a text from my ecologist friend 'It's a burn day - check your email for directions'. I drove out to an area called Black Creek Swamp where they were burning a pine savanna. By the time I got there the fire had already swept through a majority of the site leaving the ground chard, logs smoldering and a dry heat surrounded every step I made. The tops of black titi and inkberry were left green and shiny; spring blooms still hanging on. While it looks like something awful may have just occurred, burning is part of the natural cycle for pine savannas. Within weeks new vegetation, bright green, will be popping out of the ground - being fed by the new surge of nutrients and space available to them.
The pictures only tell part of the story. Being there, feeling the heat and breathing in the smoldering ground is a more powerful experience than the sight of it.
