FORT WORTH, Texas (Mar. 2 , 2023) — In conjunction with the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge, Fort Worth Botanic Garden is hosting an Urban Prescribed Burn Workshop tomorrow Friday March 3. This professional education event will involve a live controlled wildland burn activity on the Botanical Research Institute of Texas prairie at the corner of University and Trail Drive at 2 p.m.
The Fort Worth Fire Department is conducting the burn as part of a training and continuing education activity for their Wildland Fire team, a team that travels locally and nationally to respond to wildfires. Please do not report smoke or fire seen in this immediate area.
The workshop will cover the basics of conducting a successful prescribed burn within an urban setting and features presenters from The Nature Conservancy, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Texas A&M Forest Service, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Fort Worth Fire Department, and Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge.
A similar urban prescribed burn activity, the first of its kind, was conducted successfully at the same location in January of 2021. The overwhelming success of that burn – the result of years of discussion and planning among a number of organizations – paved a much easier path to this second burn, allowing organizers to offer a free workshop targeting city and county decision makers, urban land managers, urban park managers, urban fire personnel, and other urban land management professionals.
The involved parties hope to repeat the burn event every few years, not just for land management, but for demonstrating and sharing knowledge on conducting prescribed burns in urban settings on small acreage. The long-term vision includes expanding the network of prescribed fire professionals in the North Texas region, possibly under the banner of a local chapter within the Texas Prescribed Fire Council.
Media are encouraged to attend the event, but will need to RSVP with Craig Trojacek, FWFD Public Information Officer, at firepio@forthworthtexas.gov. The event will be livestreamed to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@FWBG starting at 2 p.m.
