Fire Ecology and Management of Pocosins

Pocosins are a type of shrub bog that occur along the Atlantic Coastal Plain most extensively in North Carolina, but also in South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. Pocosins have long hydroperiods, are situated on deep peat or organic muck soils, and are typically extremely low in nutrients.

Pocosin vegetation is dominated by shrubs. The overstory is variable in density and often includes pond pine. Several types of pocosin vegetation are recognized based on shrub stature and species composition. Other community types can occur on the same sites as pocosin vegetation depending on disturbance history and site fertility. Though no animals are known to be endemic to pocosins, they are important refugia for large mammals and are used by birds.

Fires in pocosin vegetation are infrequent and when they occur they are intense due to high fuel loads. Plants of pocosins are adapted to fires. Most shrub and tree species resprout following fires, but some are also adapted to reseed following severe fires. Time since fire and severe fire play roles in maintenance of vegetation diversity and dominance patterns in pocosins. Very little information is available on the effects of fires on animals of pocosins.

Fires in pocosins today are less frequent than historically. Ecological consequences of changes in fire regime include changes in spatial footprints of communities and the decline in extent of canebrakes.

Prescribed fire has been used in pocosins for fuel management, silvicultural purposes and to maintain biodiversity. However, implementing a prescribed fire program in large tracts of pocosin vegetation is more difficult than in many other plant communities because of high fuel loads, extensive nature of the fuels, requirements for fire breaks, difficulty in access and the presence of organic soils. Fire behavior can be erratic and extreme.