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Friends of the Environment Abaco, Bahamas | ||||||
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Fire Management in the Abaco Pine Forests | ||
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 | The Bahamian Caribbean Pine forests are the largest and most intact example of subtropical pine rockland in the world. There are 350,000 acres of pine rockland in the Bahamas on only 4 islands- Great Abaco, Andros, Grand Bahama and New Providence. The Caribbean Pine (Caribea vs bahamensis, also known as Yellow Pine) is an endemic species to the Bahamas. It is a light demanding pine that requires open areas with no competition from shade producing broad leaf plants the survive. The Caribbean Pine grows tall and straight to a height of 100 feet and a trunk diameter of 30-40 inches. Boles are clear up to 70 feet and with a moderate taper. This pine has been used by Bahamians for many years for construction & boatbuilding- and commercially starting in the 1900's for paper products, saw mill woods, construction, utility poles and railroad cross ties Today, many of these pine forests are now protected. | |||||||
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The Caribbean Pine forest grow rapidly but is dependent on frequent fires within the forest to remove the shade producing broadleaf understory that inhibit the light the young pine seedlings need to take hold and grow - allowing the young to replace the adult pines as they die off. This type of forest is known as a "fire climax community". This means that the fire regime require to maintain this biodiversity should happen frequently ( 1 to 7-10 years), low intensity, surface fires that have little or no impact on the over story or on the soil or soil substrate - just burning off the understory fuels on or just above the ground surface. Without forest fires, these pine forests will be replaced by a broadleaf, hardwood forest. There is also concern that more frequent human caused fires will affect the pine forest negatively- interrupting the natural order of the broadleaf coppice and affecting the endemic bird population. Human caused fires tend to burn hotter and burn more than is necessary for a healthy pine forest. | ||||
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Florida has the only other pine rockland on Earth, and they have been protecting and managing their pine forest since the late 1980's. Recently, the Bahamas Country Program staff , in conjunction with Florida's Fire Management Chapter and the Florida Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, have joined forces in leading the effort towards a Fire Management Program in the Bahamas. | ||||
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