10/05/2026
🤔⁉️ Yes, freshwater and saltwater marshes can burn. In fact, many need to burn to remain healthy marshes. The plants that grow in marshes are highly fire-adapted, meaning they survive regular, low-intensity fires. Fires also knock back woody growth that would eventually lead to the marsh turning into a forested wetland instead of a marsh.
Without natural fire cycles in parts of the Tampa Bay watershed, freshwater marshes are turning into forested freshwater wetlands. While this is a natural process and not necessarily a bad thing, freshwater marshes are important habitat for unique fish and wildlife communities.
The TBEP Habitat Master Plan, written by scientists and land managers, sets targets for each habitat type in the watershed to maximize the potential for each habitat type by 2030. While the TBEP 2025 Habitat Report Card shows that we've achieved the target for non-forested freshwater wetlands, these include manmade wetlands, like retention ponds, which have increased with increased development and do not provide the same ecosystem services as freshwater marshes. Besides protecting freshwater marshes from drainage and development, one of the ways we can prevent further loss in the region is to allow these marshes to burn.
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