 | | |||||
Friends of the Environment Abaco, Bahamas | ||||||
 | | | | | | |
Abaco Fire Management Training | ||
| | |
 | October 29, 2004, the Nature Conservancy branches from Florida and Georgia came to Marsh Harbour to trained conservationist and firefighters from across the Bahamas in the use of prescribed fire techniques to achieve ecological objectives in the Bahamian pine rockland forest. | ||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
This was the first training session of it's kind held in the Bahamas and it was a major step towards the development of a fire management capacity for the Conservancy's Bahamas Country Program and it's partners. Thirty-one (31) trainees attended the 3 day seminar. On day one of this seminar, there was a 4 hour short course covering wild land fire behavior, fire weather, personal preparedness, safety and wild land fire skills. | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| | | | | | | | | | | |
 | On day two, the trainees left the classroom and went down to the Abaco National Park making frequent stops along the way to discuss "wild land urban interface" situations and fire ecology aspects. Just north of The Abaco National Park, further discussion was held regarding hand tools use, weather observations, fire skills and the importance of prescribed burns and their objectives. A small controlled burn was started but halted due to rain. | ||||||
 | |||||||
Day 3 , back near The Abaco National Park at the original burn site, the trainees experienced fire ignition, water and hand tool use, weather monitoring, patrolling, mop up. | |||||||
| | | | | | | |
Data was collected before, during and after this controlled burn and will be used to help gauge whether the fire had its intended effect on the conservation targets. This research will also aid in conservation planning in the Bahamas and will be used to help develop a fire manage plan for The Abaco National Park that will serve as a model for other park fire management plans. | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
Planning, training and research will continue with the ultimate goal of a strategic fire management plan for the Abaco National park and all other Bahamian pine forest areas. | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
Fire Management Training Session
For more information contact
| |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Copyright 2004 Friends of the Environment. All Rights Reserved. Website designed by CocoMotion | ||||
| | | | |