Nature Conservancy gives tour of Green Swamp Preserve after wildfire

The Nature Conservancy showed parts of the preserve that wasn’t as damaged by the fire

SUPPLY, NC (WWAY) — It’s been three weeks since the Green Swamp fire began and quickly grew out of control.

For the first time since then, WWAY and other members of the media got an inside look at some of the areas that burned.

The Nature Conservancy showed parts of the preserve that wasn’t as damaged by the fire.

The fire started on June 15th as a controlled burn, which spread beyond its intended boundaries, eventually covering more than 15,000 acres.

Deb Maurer is the director of the Southeast Conservation Program for the Conservancy.

She said previous controlled burns helped keep certain areas of the preserve safe during the fire.

“In other words, there are places such as this where we had recently burned and even though fire was dropped in here, there’s large areas that didn’t burn cause there wasn’t enough fuel,” Maurer said.

One of the areas the tour went through was set on fire during a controlled burn back in January and is already growing new underbrush and plants.

Zach West is the land steward for the Conservancy.

He said different areas of the preserve need to be burned at different intervals.

“A lot of these areas, we try and burn every 3 years,” West said. “In the pocosin areas, those are kind of thick, shrubby, um, boggy areas and naturally, they have kind of a longer fire return interval. Maybe, you know, every 8 to 20 years, um and so its important for those areas to burn too.”

The trail the tour walked on is still closed to the public and a wooden boardwalk that goes over a muddy creek will be replaced.

The boardwalk will be put in place in early August with the trail opening by the middle of the month.

The Conservancy said they could not comment on what caused the fire to spread as that is still being investigated by the Forest Service.