Mayor Mattie Parker, City of Fort Worth | City of Fort Worth website
Mayor Mattie Parker, City of Fort Worth | City of Fort Worth website
After years of anticipation, the Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area have realized their goal of implementing prescribed fire as a land management tool. In late December, the Park & Recreation Department collaborated with the Fort Worth Fire Department’s Wildland Fire Team and the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge staff to conduct three controlled burns on the front meadows at Tandy Hills. This marked the first planned burn in the area.
Prescribed fire is used by professional natural resource managers for various purposes. Jared Hall, a natural resource specialist and certified burn manager with Fort Worth Park & Recreation Department, explained that "the goals of the burns will be to reduce wildfire risk, reduce dead plant material accumulation so more plants can grow, increase carbon sequestration, reduce invasive species coverage, and improve the plant communities."
Don Young, founder of Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area, expressed his excitement: “I’m still pinching myself to make sure this is real. We are another step closer to a new reality.”
More prescribed burns are scheduled for Tandy Hills in 2025.
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