Free Training: Managing Fire for Wildlife Habitats

EARLY SUCCESSIONAL HABITATS, with John Isenhour, NCRC
BEES & FIRE—DO THEY MIX?  with Gabriela Garrison, NCRC

Thursday, October 23, 6-8pm
Bonnie B. Davis Environmental and Agriculture Center
1020 US 70 West (across from the DMV), Hillsborough
REGISTER HERE: https://forms.gle/eXEvzkYAhJ6RMY3x6
This training is free of charge

As we move into the fall burn season, let’s learn from the pros how prescribed fire can help us reach our management goals.   There’s a description of topics with bios of our presenters below.  Register here.  

Hope to see you there, Hope Horton, TPBA Chair

John Isenhour of the NC Wildlife Recources Commission (NCRC) will focus on early successional habitats that contain grasses, forbs, and shrubs which provide unique and important habitat for many wildlife.  This rich habitat, once a byproduct of day-to-day life, is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the United States. Deliberate management activities are required to maintain it in today’s world.  He’ll take a look at various management techniques, including prescribed fire, that we can utilize to enhance early seral stage vegetation to benefit the many species of wildlife that require this habitat type.   

Gabriela Garrison, also with the NCRC, looks at the relationship between bees and fire.  Prescribed fire has been an essential tool for forest restoration in the southeastern United States for decades. Bees are essential components of these ecosystems, but how do bees cope with fire? In this presentation, we will talk about native bee life cycles, how they might be impacted by fire, and glimpse into recent and ongoing research in North Carolina’s fire-managed forests.

John Isenhour currently serves as the Wildlife Habitat Coordinator in the NC Wildlife Commission’s Division of Wildlife Management.   In this position he administers the Wildlife Conservation Land Program which offers a property tax deferment for landowners who agree to enhance their property for our native wildlife species.  Prior to his current position he was a Wildlife Conservation Biologist and Technical Assistance Biologist providing guidance and assistance for private landowners in the piedmont.

Gabriela Garrison is the Eastern Piedmont Habitat Conservation Coordinator for the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. She works with developers, consultants, and government agencies to produce ecologically friendly guidance that minimizes impacts to wildlife and priority habitat in a developing landscape. In 2017, she formed the NC Pollinator Conservation Alliance (NCPCA), a partnership that works to promote pollinator and habitat conservation across the State. For more information on the NCPCA, please visit www.ncpollinatoralliance.org.