Pinelands Student Research Day 2

The Pines, the Pines, the Pines are on Fire!

What makes the Pinelands so fire prone?

The Pinelands is second in the nation in fire proneness only to the chaparral of Southern California

Flat Topography Fire has nothing to block its way on the flat land. It spreads very quickly.

Prevailing Westerly Winds Winds that come from the west have traveled over land for many miles losing their moisture before reaching New Jersey.

DRY & SANDY Soil The sandy soils drain moisture quickly. Fire is more likely to start in dry areas.

Highly flammable plant communities (Resinous Pitch Pine and Mountain Laurel) Read on to find out more about the traits of pitch pines and what makes them so suitable to be near fire.

99% caused by humans 1% caused by natural causes (lightning)

Forest Structure in the Pinelands

Understory Shrub layer Forest floor

Pitch Pine Canopy

Succession in a Mid Atlantic hardwood forest includes the following steps: 1. Primary Stage Grasses and Weeds 2. Middle of Secondary Stage Young Pines 4.Climax Stage Mature Oak and Beech Pines fall to the forest floor 3. End of Secondary Stage Mature Pine with Oak and Beech Understory

Epicormic Branching The ability of a pitch pine tree to sprout from the trunk. Plants compete to survive in an area, especially the Pine Barrens. The Pitch Pine (the dominant species) has many traits that help it survive.

Serotinous Cones (Sir Rotteness) Pine cones that are tightly closed until heated by fire. Then they pop open like popcorn releasing the pine samaras.

What are serotinous cones? Serotinous cones are covered with a resin that must be melted for the cone to open and release seeds. When a fire moves through the forest, the cones open and the seeds are distributed by winds and gravity. Fire creates its own wind tunnels that help to spread the fire and winds to spread the seeds within serotinous cones.

Thick Bark Acts like a shield against fire. The plate-like bark of the pitch pine, full of insulating air pockets, allows the tree to survive fire as hot as 2,000 degrees if the crown remains intact.

Thicker Bark Serotinous Cones

National Fire Protection Association has declared Wildland-Urban interface fires to be the fastest growing source of property loss. These are areas where homes are built against protected lands. Consider how close these homes are to forested areas that may go up in flames.

Look at the line of burned trees, so close to homes.

What can be done to reduce the severity of fires?

Prescribed Burning How fire managers protect the people of the Pinelands

Fire breaks are used to prevent the fire from going further. Here the soil is exposed so that no plants are in the path of the fire to keep it from spreading.

Prescribed burning started in New Jersey in the 1930’s as away to reduce fuel load in the leaf litter and significantly lessen the risk of a catastrophic crown fire. Today prescribed burning burns 20,000 acres per year and that number is increasing as the wildland-urban interface continues to grow.

Wind shifts can cause officials to lose control Respiratory problems Smoke Problems with Prescribed Burning

The Garden State Parkway during a wildfire in the Pinelands.

Regrowth after fire