Prescribed burn helps keep habitat intact for endangered species - WTOK

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HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) - Did you know that fire can be a frog’s best friend? In the case of the endangered dusky gopher frog, it is.

On Thursday, the U.S. Forest Service burned about 200 acres of the DeSoto National Forest in Harrison County.

“This is a very important habitat. The dusky gopher frog is one of the most endangered amphibians in the world, and they require longleaf pine forests and ponds that dry seasonally. So the longleaf pine ecosystem, which is what we’re in right now, is also an endangered ecosystem," said Jaime Smith, a research assistant at Western Carolina University.

Only 3.4 million acres of longleaf pine forests remain in North America, less than four percent of what once existed. There are about 255,000 acres of longleaf pine forest in Mississippi, so maintaining the forests is critical.

“Benefiting just about every type of wildlife in this area, in particular the dusky gopher frog that’s here in this area, but deer, wild turkey, a lot of the songbirds, everything really benefits from the prescribed burns we do here,” said Jay Boykin, district fire management officer with the U.S. Forest Service.

Research shows that the frogs grow bigger in this ecosystem, and they get a special benefit from the burn: new homes.

“It creates habitats for the frogs while at the same time they’re safe underground, so it’s kind of like coming back from vacation and there’s a new affordable condo in your neighborhood,” Smith said.

The prescribed burns also help limit the severity of wildfires and make the land more accessible to people.

“Burning the woods not only helps the animals but it also helps the people who use the woods recreationally,” Smith said.

A second prescribed burn in Harrison County was in the Wolf River Preserve near Delisle. Those woods were also burned to reduce the wildfire risk as well as reducing invasive species like Chinese Tallow.



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