What: National Prescribed Fire Awareness Week Open House Event

When: Saturday March 6, 2010 from 9:00am – 12:00pm

Where: Ed Yarborough Nature Center – 3485 N. County Road 426 Geneva,

FL 32732

Who: Free and Open to the Public

March 6, 2010 from 9-12pm – Geneva, FL 32732. The Ed Yarborough Nature

Center is joining the National Prescribed Fire Awareness Day by hosting an
Open House event. Come learn about the importance of Prescribed Fires.
Participating agencies include Seminole County Public Safety, Florida
Division of Forestry, The Nature Conservancy, and the Florida Parks Service.

The use of prescribed or controlled fire under very specific conditions can
achieve both ecological and public safety benefits. During much of the 20th
century, intensified fire suppression and prevention activities decreased the
frequency of wildfires and the area they covered. This brought about
changes in forest ecosystems. Understory brush and hardwoods became
more dense and both live and dead vegetation accumulated, increasing the
risk of large and damaging wildfires.

In the last 40 to 50 years these changes in Florida's forests have prompted a

return to using prescribed fire, under carefully controlled conditions, to
accomplish many of the same benefits that were historically provided by
natural fires. Today, approximately 1.5 to 2 million acres is prescribed
burned each year for forest management, agriculture, grazing, and
ecological restoration.

Prescribed fires help maintains an open canopy allowing more sunlight to

penetrate to ground cover plants, recycles nutrients, maintains
habitat/vegetative structure, and reduces fuel (vegetation) available for
wildfires, increases plant and animal diversity.

For more information about the event please call 407-349-0959.