In 2005 a team of Nature Conservancy fire ecologists visited the
Caribbean pine savannas of eastern Honduras to gather
information on the fire management needs and issues of the
region. This area also contains tropical broadleaved forests,
palm thickets and flooded grasslands, but almost all fires
originate in the pinelands. Frequent, low-intensity fires are
the norm in the pine savannas, ensuring the survival of
pinelands in areas where other vegetation types would otherwise
predominate. Some of these fires occur naturally; others are set
by local communities which use fire to meet a variety of needs.
Indigenous communities in this region ignite fires to improve
grass for grazing, to attract game animals to green regrowth, to
control ticks and other pests, and to facilitate travel and
access by keeping trails open and vegetation low. In fact, there
is a general perception on the part of the people who set fires
that the fires are needed to “clean up” the pine savanna. “Los
pinares se ponen feo sin quemar” is