East Texas Fire & Nature Festival, Oct 10 at Tyler Center
Fire is one of those words that naturally gets our attention. We are taught from childhood that fire is dangerous, and uncontrolled wildfire certainly can be. But fire is also one of the natural forces that helped create and maintain the various East Texas landscapes we know and love. Learning the difference between destructive wildfire and carefully managed prescribed fire is the focus of the upcoming East Texas Fire & Nature Festival at the Tyler Nature Center.
Event Details & Schedule
The free, family-friendly festival will be held Saturday, October 10, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Tyler Nature Center, 11942 FM 848 in Tyler. The event will focus on wildland fire and the many ways properly managed fire can benefit both people and wildlife.
Historical Role of Fire in Ecosystems
Fire was once a regular part of the East Texas landscape. Lightning started fires naturally while Native Americans deliberately used fire to manage vegetation, improve hunting grounds, and influence the plants growing around them. Our pineywoods, prairies, and post oak savannas developed with regular fire rather than in its absence.
Impact of Fire Exclusion & Mesophication
When fire is excluded for long periods, woody and invasive vegetation becomes thicker; shade increases, and fallen leaves, limbs, and other fuels accumulate. Grasslands, savannas, and open woodlands gradually become denser forests choked with impenetrable thicket understories. Sun-loving grasses and wildflowers disappear, along with much of the wildlife that depends on them, such as bobwhite quail, native bees, and monarch butterflies. This gradual ecological change is part of a process known as mesophication.
Benefits of Prescribed Fire
Prescribed fire can help turn back that clock. Under the direction of trained professionals and carefully selected weather conditions, fire can reduce accumulated fuels, suppress encroaching woody vegetation, recycle nutrients, stimulate native grasses and wildflowers, and maintain habitat for a multitude of wildlife. Prescribed burning can also reduce the amount of fuel available for future wildfires. I myself use prescribed fire annually on much of my rural property for safety, aesthetics, and to increase biodiversity.
Festival Demos & Family Activities
The East Texas Fire & Nature Festival will provide an opportunity to see and learn about fire without sitting through a long lecture on fire ecology. Weather permitting, there will be live fire demonstrations along with a chance to see firefighting dozers and engines up close. Other activities include wildlife skins and skull displays, archery, a photo booth, a Story Walk trail, an Ask-a-Biologist opportunity, take-home crafts, and more. My Smith County Master Gardeners will also be there playing Pollinator Ping Pong with the kids.
Target Audience & Who Should Attend
This should be an especially good event for families with children, landowners, gardeners, naturalists, hunters, ranchers, birders, and anybody curious about how East Texas ecosystems truly function. Fire affects everything from grasses and wildflowers to timber, insects, birds, and mammals.
Fire Safety & Prescribed Burn Resources
Smokey Bear is right that we need to prevent unwanted wildfires. But that message never meant that all fire is bad. In much of East Texas, the absence of fire has negatively impacted both the function, safety, and aesthetic of our natural landscape. For more information about the benefits of fire on the landscape, consider joining the East Texas Prescribed Burn Association (etxpba.org).
