The Pine Barrens: Fire in the Pines
Complications from gypsy moth defoliation apparently killed the hardwoods in this section of the Jamesburg Park Conservation Area. With no leaf canopy of hardwoods, sunlight infiltrates this clearing, allowing the shade-intolerant pitch pine, Pinus rigida, which is a tree of early ecological succession, to create a piney forest. Fire, too, would open the woods for pitch pine growth.
Photos courtesy of Joseph Sapia
As I walked a path in the Jamesburg Park Conservation Area the other day, I noticed a clearing in the woods. Grabbing my attention, the young pitch pines growing in the clearing.
Scores of small Pinus rigida — some more than 12-feet tall, but most under that height, and many shorter than my 5 feet 9 inches – proliferated.
Pitch pine puts the pine in Pine Barrens, so seeing the species in the Pine Barrens around Helmetta is not unusual. Different here was the flourishing of baby pines.
In Pine Barrens ecological succession, pines are primitive trees. Clear an area of the Pine Barrens, then watch a pine woods develop. Eventually, without a disturbance, they become oak forests.
For example, fire burns a tract. The pines settle the area, with shade-tolerant oaks growing underneath. Oaks, of the genus Quercus, will overtake the pines, shading out the shade-intolerant pines, creating a hardwood forest. But a fire, happening every 30 to 50 years, will start the cycle over, keeping the area a pine-dominated forest.
Fire, or some other disturbance (selective wood-cutting of hardwoods, for example), keeps the woods in an early stage of succession, or a pine woods. Generally, rare plants and animals, for which the Pine Barrens are internationally known, exist because of the early succession stage.
In days past, lightning was a major form of disturbance. Lightning struck and set the woods on fire, leaving them to burn until they burned themselves out.
But lightning produces a miniscule amount of fires. And now, with modern fire-prevention equipment and the desire to protect developed areas, firefighters jump to extinguish wildfire. So, while hundreds of years ago a lightning strike might have produced a fire that could have burned from today’s Medford to the Atlantic Ocean, that is less likely nowadays, because firefighters would respond to put out the fire.
Of course, the main Pine Barrens to the south still see wildfires — almost all caused by humans, accidentally or intentionally – that maintain the pine ecosystem. In the main Pine Barrens, there is much preserved open-space for fires to get hold and burn. And the state Forest Fire Service’s fire-prevention tool of control-burning — burning vegetation in a controlled setting to take away fuel that could propel a wildfire – also helps maintain the pine barrens ecosystem.
The Pine Barrens around Helmetta, though, is a different story. Heavy development in this area over the years has eliminated large tracts of woods.. One, that translates into less acreage for a wildfire to take hold and maintain a pine woods. Two, combining this lesser acreage with development interspersing this smaller acreage, control-burning has not been a regular part of life here. In turn, the pine sub- ecosystem of the Pine Barrens has a struggle to maintain itself here.
This is illustrated along Helmetta Boulevard, near the clearing of baby pines. Pitch pine flourishes along the roadway, where the sun shines more directly. Walk a few feet into the woods where sunlight does not penetrate and one is in a hardwood forest.
With the piney forest struggling to maintain itself in mind, I was excited to see the clearing allowing pitch pines to grow with ease, although the apparent reason for the disturbance here was kind of backwards ecology. Here, the disturbance appeared to be defoliation by an invasive species, the European gypsy moth: Either the defoliation itself killed the hardwoods or it weakened them, allowing another cause to kill the hardwoods. The hardwoods died, meaning there was no leafy canopy to shade the forest, allowing early succession pines to grow freely in the sunlight of the clearing. Strangely, an invasive species is maintaining a pine ecosystem, according to my theory. Of course, the maintenance is limited to a small clearing and we would not want gypsy moths touted as saviors of the Pines. But just as ironic as the gypsy moths apparently kicking off ecological succession in this small area, also ironic is that gypsy moths are kicking off a program that could be the savior of the pine woods in the Jamesburg Park Conservation Area. The planned control-burn Recently, Middlesex County, which owns the Jamesburg Park Conservation Area, and the state agreed for the Forest Fire Service to conduct a control-burn in a small area – perhaps 20 to 30 acres – of the approximately 1,500-acre conservation area. The area for this model is within a woods basically bounded by Helmetta Boulevard to the north, Port Street-Lincoln Boulevard to the east, the “Power Lines” to the South, and Cranbury Road-Route 535 to the west. Here, in recent years, gypsy moths have left swaths of dead hardwoods, some standing and some fallen, creating a dry fuel that can really kick off a wildfire. Witnessing the devastation Last month, I headed west from my house, entering the woods at “Cranberry Bog.” I continued west on the “Pipeline” to “Snuffy Hollow,” where I turned north onto Lincoln Boulevard. As I crossed underneath the Power Lines, the land off the dirt road turned swampy for about 200 to 300 meandering paces, or 500 to 700 feet. At the end of the hardwood swamp, I turned onto a path to the west. Soon, I encountered dead hardwoods, again I suspect were killed by complications of a gypsy moth invasion. I noted the galls covering the branches of a tall, dead oak. At this dead oak, I headed north into a bowl-like area, a lowland surrounded by higher ground. One area with two old, wooden deer-stands looked like nuclear winter: bare, dead trees with little, if any, baby trees in the understory. I noted the duff layer was inches-deep with dead oak leaves and other forest litter. Combine that with the dead hardwoods, either standing or lying on the forest floor, and the highly flammable resinous pitch pine and it could fuel a raging inferno. As I approached one area, a few hundred feet south of Bearded Tom’s house, I could see the woods’s death: sunlight freely lighting the whiteness of dozens of dead hardwoods.
Fire ecology Ecologically speaking, a fire would do this area well, killing the white pine, allowing the native forest to reclaim the area. Unless there is a change in plans or weather conditions are too wet or windy, expect the Forest Fire Service to conduct its pilot program before the beginning of the spring wildfire season, normally beginning about March 15. As a naturalist, I support a “hot” burn, one that burns intensely, wiping out ground, shrub, and hardwood tree vegetation, leaving black spars of pitch pine, which will sprout anew from the tree trunks or their roots. With the underbrush and vegetative litter burned away, a forest floor conducive to re-birth has been created. Pine seeds litter charred ground, now filled with nutrients from a fire, and pine growth begins. As for the charred pines, they are not dead. Pine needles will spout directly from the trunks, a head-start on oaks that will only grow from roots. Insects will take over the dead hardwoods. Birds, such as woodpeckers, looking for a meal will follow. Woodpeckers will dig holes into the trees and cavity-nesting birds will use them. Dead hardwoods will decompose, adding more nutrients to the soil. This area, I suspect, will transform itself from its now-hardwood-dominated self to a piney woods, creating an ecologically valuable ecosystem. Perhaps rare plants such as pyxie, Pyxidanthera barbulata, will appear in the cleansed woods, just as it did years ago after a fire in the nearby Old Forge Road Pine Barrens. Then, hardwoods will start growing again, looking to overtake the pines, staring the cycle again. Additionally, a hot fire will rid the woods of improperly dumped garbage: beverage containers and household debris, such as a Toshiba flat-screen television near the corner of Port and Washington. Fire, too, likely will reveal the crisscrossing of new paths created by the illegal riding of off-road vehicles in the conservation area, perhaps enough revelation to embarrass the off-roaders to stop or the authorities to take more action against them. What I do not really support is a “cool” burn, or a less-intense burn, one that would clear the understory but leave the trees basically unharmed. This would create an urban park-like setting, but not be in the best interest of Pine Barrens ecology. Awaiting the burn Because I am not a firefighter, I cannot speak to how safe any kind of control-burn would be. Others, such as the state Forest Fire Service, have to determine this. Also, one, I support burning the uplands, or the pitch pine habitat, in steps, rather than at one time. And, two, burns should not happen next to each other without some time elapsing. These two steps should ensure a Pine Barrens area in transition, never one totally blackened by fire or, ecologically damaged, because of a lack of disturbance. If the plan does move forward and a hot-burning is used, I suspect we will see more pitch pine flourishing in the Jamesburg Park Conservation Area. In a way, albeit a backwards way, good came out of the invasion of non-native gypsy moths. They got this fire idea rolling. Earlier this month, I was walking along Cedar Brook at a spot about 2 miles east of the clearing of baby pines. Here, I saw what appeared to be a gypsy moth-devastated stand of hardwoods. Joe Sapia, 55-years-old, is a native of and lives in the Pine Barrens around Helmetta, where his family has resided for more than 100 years. He can be reached at Snufftin@aol.com or at P.O. Box 275, Helmetta, 08828.
Note how pitch pines, Pinus rigida, easly grow along the open, sunlit roadway of Helmetta Boulevard, but the forest is primarily hardwoods. That is because pitch pines do not tolerate shade as the hardwoods do.
Fallen hardwood trees, apparently victims of defoliation by invasive gypsy moths, litter a path in the Jamesburg Park Conservation Area. The dead hardwoods, those both standing and fallen, have raised concern about them fueling a raging forest fire.
Gypsy moths have defoliated this section of the Jamesburg Park Conservation Area, leaving dead hardwoods. Here a large branch (center of picture) hangs precariously about 20 feet above the ground from this dead tree. A dangerously hanging branch such as this is known as a widow-maker.
Underneath, baby pitch pines grew nicely.
Previous Stories:
- The Pine Barrens: A Christmas wreath, naturally
- The Pine Barrens: Rusty Richard's search for stumpies
- The Pine Barrens: Fall foliage colors come alive in the Pinelands
- The Pine Barrens of Helmetta: Exploring a Pinelands outlier in Middlesex County
Categories: The Pine Barrens
Tags: pine barrens fire control burn gypsy moth helmetta
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