Comments on: What Was All The Smoke In The Jacks Branch Road Area?

By: xpeecee

xpeecee — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:22:44 +0000

Thanks for the info, deBugger…

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:23:04 +0000

It made its way over to Quintette past 95A.

By: C W

C W — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 04:20:46 +0000

I’m glad more land is being restored back to longleaf pine savanah lately. Maybe someday our kids and grandkids will be able to see the open park like forests as they appeared to the original settlers.

By: deBugger

deBugger — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:47:06 +0000

They’ve got a narrow window to “get’r dun”- it’s been either too dry or too windy. They mentioned also that it helped to have tinder-type undergrowth knocked back by our slight freezes the past few nights.

The [forecasted] prevailing easterly winds [which were pushing the smoke over to the more sparsely-populated AL side of the river] died down & shifted a little this evening, causing the smoke to drift. It has thinned considerably. No worse now than a light fog in spots.

By: Concerned

Concerned — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:36:38 +0000

“Cooler night temperatures and calm wind is keeping the smoke close to the ground.”

Maybe do it when the weather conditions are more conducive so there doesn’t have to be any danger to drivers?

By: resident

resident — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 01:56:03 +0000

I was wondering. I live just south of Shifko on JB and about 5pm tonight you could see ash falling from the sky. I was hoping it was a “controlled” burn. Still makes me nervous having ash fall on my house.

By: JUDY MASEK

JUDY MASEK — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 01:54:18 +0000

thank God, that is what it is…i was worried earlier as i rode into town…thx debugger, for the good lowdown on this.

By: deBugger

deBugger — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 01:29:08 +0000

I spoke with the fellas as they were wrapping it up this evening— they’re working on the habitat restoration project for the Perdido River watershed. They will be burning along the river in various locations [weather permitting] through the end of the month, prior to hand-planting longleaf pines, beginning in December.

The purpose of hand-planting is to make the new growth appear as close to naturally-restored as possible, while giving the process a little nudge in the proper direction, owing to the fact that the surrounding plots of land do not have enough mature native pines to re-populate the restoration project area.

Native wiregrasses, hardwoods, & scrub are expected to rebound, & periodic controlled burns will be used to maintain the habitat in its “natural” state.

Your friendly neighborhood
Independent Barrineau Park Ranger,
deBugger