# Minutes

# December 8, 2005 Pine Rockland Working Group Meeting

20 participants in attendance from TNC, IRC, Ecostudies Institute,
Everglades NP, FIU, Miami-Dade DERM, Miami-Dade Parks NAM, USGS,
Fairchild TBG, UF, USFWS

Minutes and other PRWG materials will be posted on the following
website; http://fl.water.usgs.gov/Miami/pineland/index.html

**[1:30 -- 2:30 Committee Updates and Discussion]{.underline}**

[Outreach Committee]{.underline} met during the morning of Dec. 8^th^.
They are working toward completion of portable pine rockland display.
They are preparing outreach materials for people in wildfire/rx fire
prone areas to be distributed prior to the onset of wildfire season this
spring. They are developing a media packet to target local papers.
Finally, they are developing an info packet for local politicians with
stories of effective fire management preventing or mitigating wildfire
danger.

[Science Committee]{.underline} met on the morning of Dec. 8^th^. The
effort to develop a recommended minimum monitoring standard took a step
back to identify overarching monitoring goals. Much more work is needed
on this goal but it was agreed that monitoring to capture pine
population dynamics, cover of broadleaf trees and shrubs, and % cover of
herbaceous vegetation is desirable (see attachment from Hillary Cooley
re: line intercept vs other methods). It was agreed that Everglades
photo-monitoring procedure and the "operational monitoring" guidelines
suggested by TNC will be promoted as recommended standards.

Development of a list of funding sources for research and other needs is
in progress. Developing an ecological model for the pine rockland
community is still on the radar screen but there is no progress to date.

[Organizational Committee]{.underline} was officially disbanded but we
will keep it on the agenda to provide an opportunity for agencies and
orgs to provide updates on efforts to catalyze resource sharing and
collaboration. Everglades/Miami-Dade MOU development is at a standstill.
The national Fire Program Analysis effort is moving toward pooling all
federal agency wildfire preparedness efforts by 2008 and in 2009 this
will be expanded to include prescribed fire as well.

[Symposium Committee]{.underline} has circulated the 2006 Pine Rockland
Conference announcement, registration materials and call for abstracts.
Everyone was encouraged to distribute this widely to increase
attendance. See the website for details. Hillary Cooley and Gary Slater
agreed to help review abstracts.

**[2:30 -- 4:00 Presentations and Discussion]{.underline}**

[Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program]{.underline} -- Alison Higgins
provided info on the opportunity to apply for up to \$35,000/private
property for habitat management. WHIP is a federal program administered
by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. This year their focus for
Florida is on pine rockland and rockland hammock.

[Prescribed Fire Training, Demonstration and Research Project in the
Bahamas]{.underline} -- Chuck Byrd from TNC provided a brief update on
the Bahamas effort and the training held November 2005 on Abaco.
Twenty-one Bahamians from Abaco and four other islands participated in
the classroom training, and the Bahamians who were trained in 2004 took
the lead in carrying out a picture-perfect prescribed fire. Joe O'Brien
from USFS led the fire effects research effort.

[Open discussion about effects of storm surge on pine
rocklands]{.underline}. On October 24^th^ Hurricane Wilma covered the
majority of the Florida Keys pine forests (and everything else) with
seawater up to about 8' above sea level. Phillip Hughes from USFWS led a
discussion of what the literature says about this kind of disturbance
(e.g. limited tree mortality and a pulse of litter 2x heavier than
normal). Other than the effects of hurricane Georges on the Keys in
1998, no other examples of surged pine rocklands were available. Keith
Bradley from IRC will be conducting a follow-up to very recent floristic
inventory which will help identify short term impacts on pineland
species.

[Analysis of prescribed fire use in the wildland urban interface of
Miami-Dade County.]{.underline} Robin Gray-Urguelles is conducting an
independent study on this topic and was seeking input on identification
of the roadblocks to prescribed fire use and potential solutions. This
led to discussion of the Everglades/Miami-Dade MOU and its stalled
status. It was also explained that while FDOF leads all prescribed fires
for Miami-Dade County and provides the crews and equipment, while
Miami-Dade staff, although trained can only participate in mop up
operations due to liability concerns. Liability in general and the
proliferation of Smoke Sensitive Areas were noted as major problems.
Wildfire response jurisdiction issues between FDOF and Miami-Dade Fire
Rescue were also noted.

In this reporter's opinion it all boiled down to this; with dozens of
sites that need fire and very few prescribed fires getting done each
year, a new paradigm is needed. In order to accomplish fire management
objectives and protect the investment of millions of dollars in
environmentally sensitive pinelands, Miami-Dade must overcome the
liability hurdle see other counties for examples and develop in-house
capacity to plan and implement burns. Brevard and Palm Beach Counties
were noted as potential models. No other group has sufficient incentive
to get aggressive with Miami-Dade County's problem.

Experience dictates that some areas will never be burnable. Miami-Dade
should do one of two things with these sites; decide to let them turn
into hammock (and possibly even facilitate that transition if warranted
by public safety concerns) or begin now to experiment with mechanical
alternatives to prescribed fire in hopes that some form of mechanical
treatment can do a fair job of replicating fire's effects on species and
other resources of concern. Jennifer Possley from Fairchild noted a
manual fuel management experiment conducted by Fairchild and NAM in 2002
that resulted in a cost of \$22,730/acre. See attachment.

[Management and Conservation Needs of South Florida Pine Rocklands
Conference]{.underline} - this conference, hosted by Fairchild Tropical
Garden, was postponed due to Hurricane Wilma. Joyce Machinski suggested
that it might be best to hold it in conjunction with the summer 2006
Pine Rockland Working Group meeting. Stay tuned for details.

**[Next PRWG Meeting Tentatively Set for July 18, 2006]{.underline}**