Pine barrens are sparsely vegetated shrublands, woodlands, and semi-open forests found in the Northeastern United State on sandy xeric soils. Barrens are often referred to as pine barrens, pine plains, pinelands, or pine and oak barrens. They are composed of a continuum of natural communities, including the pitch pine - scrub oak community, scrub oak shrubland, and pitch pine - oak woodland and forest. Pine Barrens in Massachusetts are home to more than 50 taxa of rare and declining animals and plants, including many state-listed and federal-listed or candidate species. These fire-dependent communities are declining throughout their range due to fire exclusion, conversion of land for alternative uses, and loss of key structural components of the community such as pitch pine due to forest pests, such as the southern pine beetle. The map at right shows the approximate distribution of Northeastern pine – oak barrens within the Atlantic coastal plain from New Jersey to southern Maine.
“Prescribed fire is an amazingly effective tool to enhance wildlife habitats and restore this fire-dependent ecosystem within an increasingly fire prone landscape,” said Caren Caljouw, the prescribed fire program manager for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife). Caljouw stresses the importance of adequate planning, partnerships, and teamwork to get the job done safely. “As fire practitioners, we recognize that it is not practical or safe to return to the days of free roaming fire on the landscape, but the benefits of prescribed fire are tremendous to restore the health of this imperiled ecosystem and safely reduce hazardous fuels.” Safely returning fire to pine barrens requires an integrated approach, often using prescribed fire along with mechanical treatments to reduce fuels and protect sensitive resources, In many cases fire has been absent from the landscape for long periods of time, returning it often requires fire practitioners work as a team with foresters, wildlife biologists, and fire control experts to establish reasonable goals for restoration. Learn more about prescribed fire as a habitat management tool here.
Caljouw points out that planning efforts and projects that value building strong relationships with public and private partners and communicating the effectiveness of this work are the most successful. Reaching out to neighbors and members of the community who may see, or smell smoke is critical and working with local fire departments, state fire control, and other fire practitioners to provide information on upcoming prescribed burns improves efforts all around. At the same time, making incentive programs available to private landowners to reduce hazardous fuels and/or improve habitat for wildlife on their property helps to build healthy landscapes and strong community support for prescribed fire programs.
View a slideshow below of prescribed burns conducted at Camp Edwards in Massachusetts by the Massachusetts Army National Guard. Photos by Joel R. Carlson, Wildland Fire Program Coordinator Natural Resources Program, Massachusetts Army National Guard.
This Web Extra accompanies the article “Preserving Cape Cod Pine Barrens with Fire,” by Olivia Box in the Spring 2022 issue of Northern Woodlands.
