Smokin'!

When we had The Nature Conservancy's prescribed burning crew at the 70-acre Gator Pond property last March, the wind shifted and they were unable to burn the area in the northwest portion. Well, a few days ago, I got some help from Kent Hanby and Mark Hainds and we got it burned (thanks, guys!). At 2:00, relative humidity was down to a scary 11 percent and the air temperature was 70 degrees F, meaning we really had to be careful. But the objective was to clear out some of the hardwood scrubby regrowth that had encroached following longleaf pine planting three years ago, and it was largely a success. Coincidentally, pilot/photographer Alex Boldog happened to be flying over and today he sent me the above image. Look, it's still smokin'! Open Pond and Yellow Hill Pond to the north are on Forest Service land.