News Release

North Cut Prescribed Burn

Burn Map for the North Cut Prescribed Burn

NPS Map

News Release Date: July 26, 2019

Contact: Nick Roll, 912-882-4336x252

Recent wildfire offers opportunity to conduct prescribed burn at North Cut Road on Cumberland Island

St. Marys, GA – The recent Whitney Fire (now fully contained) has provided an opportunity for Cumberland Island National Seashore to carry out a prescribed burn operation that has been planned since 2017.

The North Cut Burn Plan was developed in accordance with Cumberland Island’s 2015 Fire Management Plan to support the park’s structural protection plan for north end structures while allowing for natural fire to play its role in the wilderness area to its south. The burn operation was scheduled to be carried out prior to the year 2022.

The project area is a 270 acre unit consisting of pine and oak scrub, live oak and pine stands, shrubs, palmettos, and leaf/pine needle litter. Areas immediately adjacent to the boundaries set for this unit, along North Cut Road, recently burned during the lightning caused Whitney Fire providing a boundary to support containment to the prescribed area.

The burn will employ prescribed fire in order to reduce hazardous fuels in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), protect structures and cultural resources adjacent to the burn unit, and to promote a healthy fire frequency of the oak scrub ecosystem.

Cumberland Island National Seashore will be working with its interagency partners to initiate the prescribed burn as early as next week, conditions permitting.

The date of the fire is determined by the appropriate weather conditions as indicated in the seashore’s burn plan prescription; as such, no specific date has been set for the burn, however burn operation could begin as early as Monday, July 29^th, 2019.

Disruptions to park operations and impacts from smoke are expected to be minimal. The staff will make every effort to communicate with the visiting public during the burn plan implementation both at the park and through the park’s website and Facebook site.

Public safety is paramount. Cumberland Island National Seashore staff and its partners are working together to ensure a safe and successful burn event.

For up to date information on the prescribed burn visit www.nps.gov/cuis and monitor the park’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cumberlandislandnps.