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prescribed burning

2011 Prescribed Burning Season and Resources for Land Managers

By
February 5, 2011
prescribed burning

 

Schiff Natural Lands Trust's 2011 Prescribed Burning Plan

Schiff Natural Lands Trust's 2011 Prescribed Burning Plan

This will be our seventh season using prescribed burning as a land management tool at Schiff Natural Lands Trust.  As far as I am aware, Schiff has one of the more extensive prescribed burning programs in northeastern hardwood forests.

We work with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service and the Ralston Fire Company, who actually conduct the burns for us.  We have several goals for our prescribed burning program. First, burning reduces the amount of flammable material such as dried branches, grasses,and leaves, also called “fuel”, in our forests and meadows. By reducing the fuel load, we reduce the danger of a wildfire threatening our neighbor’s homes and property.

Second, prescribed burning reduces the density of common non-native invasive plants such as Japanese barberry. Finally, prescribed burning helps to regenerate native shrubs and trees such as red oak and hickory.  As the deer herd gets reduced on the property, the growing space opened up by prescribed burning will provide sites for our native plants to regenerate.

Like most conservation and land management activities, the results of our prescribed burning program have been mixed. As you take a walk around the preserve, it is easy to compare burned versus non-burned area. The areas with successive prescribed burns have a markedly reduced understory of non-native invasive plants, however native regeneration has been slow to take hold. This may be because of the high density of deer on the property that tend to prefer browse the native plants. We are hoping that, as we lower the deer herd through our deer management program, these native plants will rebound.

We use an adaptive management approach for all of our land management and conservation activities, including our prescribed burning program. Adaptive management essentially means that we have monitoring systems in place and will make adjustments based on the monitoring and our goals. As we continue to monitor the results of prescribed burning, we’ll make changes to the program to ensure that we are good stewards of the land we have preserved.

If you’d like to know more about the ecological effects of prescribed burning, I highly recommend you take a look a series of papers that Kelli K. found in her research as she was developing a prescribed burning program for the lands that she manages:

Vol. 1: Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on fauna: http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr042_1.pdf

Vol. 2: Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on flora http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr042_2.pdf

vol. 4: Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on soils and water http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr042_4.pdf

vol. 5: Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on air http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr042_5.pdf

vol. 6: Wildland fire in ecosystems: fire and nonnative invasive plants http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr042_6.pdf

http://www.fws.gov/invasives/pdfs/USFWS_FireMgtAndInvasivesPlants_A_Handbook.pdf

http://www.cal-ipc.org/ip/management/UseofFire.pdf

http://www.weedcenter.org/store/docs/burning_weeds.pdf

http://www.dof.virginia.gov/fire/resources/FireScience-Brief_Issue-46_May-2009.pdf

http://www.fws.gov/fire/downloads/monitor.pdf

Ecological Forestry in NJ

By
September 14, 2009
ecological restoration, forest management, land use history, prescribed burning, workshops
Ecological Forestry in the Pine Barrens

Ecological Forestry in the Pine Barrens

For those of you who didn’t catch the recent article Rare, threatened flowers grow from ashes of Pinelands, click here.  It is a nice piece about the role of fire in the Pine Barrens.  I am a bit more bullish than Dr. DeVito regarding the ability of forestry to mimic fire dynamics in the Pine Barrens.

Several NJ organizations are working with the Forest Guild on an ecological forestry workshop November 16 and 17.  We will be brining the top national Ecological Forestry experts to NJ and visit on-the-ground projects.  Check out the Forest Guild website if you haven’t seen it before.  www.forestguild.org

SAVE THE DATE: November 16 – 17, 2009
Ecological Forestry in the New Jersey’s Pinelands

Dr. Jerry Franklin, University of Washington, will introduce core principles of natural disturbance and natural development-based silviculture. Dr. Bob Mitchell, from the Jones Ecological Research Center, will discuss fire as a natural disturbance process and how to integrate fire into holistic forest management. A day of lecture and discussion at Rutgers University’s EcoComplex will be followed by a day of field tours. Participation will be limited to facilitate group discussions.

The Workshop:
Increasingly, forest managers and policy makers are discussing emulation of natural disturbance regimes as a model for management. Using these ideas more fully in silvicultural practices is the basis of an ecological forestry approach. Understanding the importance of biological legacies, recognizing the role of stand development processes and disturbances, and appreciating the role of recovery periods between disturbance events are the principal concepts of ecological forestry. In this workshop, we also recognize that forestmanagement options are often limited by economic realities, social desires, and past management practices. Therefore, we also will include presentations regarding market outlooks, wildlife objectives,forest restoration, and climate change and how these issues relate to an ecological forestry approach to management scenarios ranging from commodity production to reserve management.

The Partners:
This workshop builds upon an ongoing training program on ecological forestry organized by the Conservation Forestry Network, US ForestService Northern Research Station, Conservation Resources Inc, NJ Pinelands Commission, NJ Audubon Society, Land Dimensions Inc,Forest Guild, and numerous other partners. The Conservation Forestry Network aims to improve forest practices across North America by bringing together experts, land managers, stakeholders and decision-makers to learn, shape, and share innovative practices across the diverse range of American forests and communities.

More details will be available at the CFN website (http://www.forestguild.org/CFN.html) as they become available.

Schiff prescribed burn – update

By
March 31, 2009
non-native invasive plants, prescribed burning
1 Comment
11-acre area burned on March 22, 2009 at Schiff Nature Preserve

March 22, 2009 at Schiff Nature Preserve, Aaron B. Strubel Photography

Our third season of prescribed burning over the past five years began on March 22.  This year, we are focusing on burning forest understory on about 65-acres (approximately 15% of Schiff Nature Preserve) in order to reduce the dangerous fuel load and control non-native invasive plants.  

This first burn was more modest than I was hoping; the NJ Forest Fire Service was only able to work on an 11-acre unit.  I was away on vacation the day of the burn so I wasn’t able to help and  don’t have photos of the actual fire.  My friend from Aaron Strubel (Aaron B. Strubel Photography) just sent a link to a bunch of great photos of the Schiff prescribed burn.  Click here to see them.  

As I explained in the previous post, the preparation work grading our woods roads and creating and maintaining fire breaks went very well.  In addition to this significant work involving a lot of heavy machinery, we reached out to our neighbors in order to let them know about the burning plan.  Our communication effort has resulted in no complaints even though our preserve surrounds a relatively dense subdivision.  

 

Burned non-native invasive plants from top left to bottom right: multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, wineberry, and Japanese angelica tree.

Burned non-native invasive plants. Note the charred stems close to the ground. From top left to bottom right: multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, wineberry, and Japanese angelica tree.

So far I am impressed with the results.  The fire burned low to the ground and seriously charred the above-ground living portions of the non-native invasive plants, while none of the large native overstory trees seem to have been damaged.  Based on past experience, I expect some of the invasives will eventually re-sprout from roots, at which time we can control them with herbicides or re-burn the same areas again over the next several years.  The non-native invasive plants that were burned include multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, wineberry, and Japanese angelica tree.  I’ll be monitoring these areas over the next several seasons and will be sure to post my observations.  

 

There is a limited time-period in which we can conduct prescribed burning in New Jersey, mostly due to air pollution regulations.   Typically the “burn window”  for northern NJ closes on April 1, but occasionally the DEP will extend it for a few weeks.  Hopefully the burn window won’t close on April 1 this year and we’ll be able to burn the other 54-acres.  Stay tuned…

Weed of the Month – March 2009

By
March 29, 2009
meadow management, prescribed burning, weed of the month
1 Comment

 

Lespedeza cuneata Photographer: Dan Tenaglia

Lespedeza cuneata, Photographer: Dan Tenaglia

Lespedeza cuneata (a.k.a. Chinese bushclover, Chinese lespedeza or sericea lespedeza) has been in New Jersey for some time, but seems to be more and more frequently growing in dense monocultures.

 

In the Pine Barrens, which has very little invasive species problems, Chinese bushclover is a problem on roadsides and other areas that receive heavy human disturbance. Roadside plant communities in the Pine Barrens are a significant refuge for early successional plants and are highly threatened by Chinese bushclover. (Note: Chinese bushclover is currently recommended for roadside seed mixes following construction…).

In areas outside of the Pines, Chinese bushclover can form dense monocultures in old fields. It seems possible that new infestations begin along field edges where farm equipment or vehicles create bare, compacted ground.

Chinese bushclover agressively spreads asexually via runners, which allows for domination of sites. It also makes this species difficult to control. Generally, foliar spraying with triclopyr is recommended. Burning in spring is NOT RECOMMENDED because it stimulates growth and flowering. As with any invasive species, early detection and rapid response is required to prevent further spread. If you are considering prescribed fire to manage a meadow, then be sure to search for and eradicate Chinese bushclover before burning.

For more information, check out the Plant Conservation Alliance’s fact sheet by clicking here. 

-Mike Van Clef

Prescribed burning

By
March 2, 2009
deer management, forest management, native plants, non-native invasive plants, prescribed burning
1 Comment
Preparation for prescribed burning, Schiff Nature Preserve, 3/01/2009

Preparation for prescribed burning, Schiff Nature Preserve, 3/01/2009

I spent part of this past Sunday working with the NJ Forest Fire Service preparing for prescribed burning this spring at Schiff Nature Preserve.  This will be my third season of prescribed burning.

We have three goals with our program.  First and foremost, we want to reduce the wildfire danger to our neighbors by reducing the amount of flammable vegetation close to homes.  Second, the preparation work, if conducted properly and carefully, can help with maintenance and construction of woods roads and trails. There is one inaccessible portion of the Preserve where we will be creating a new trail that will also act as a firebreak.

Finally, prescribed burning can help maintain and restore degraded forests and meadows.  We have approximately 30 acres of native meadow habitat dominated by warm season grasses.  Prescribed burning is a proven way to effectively manage native warm-season grasses.  For our meadow management, we follow best management guidelines developed by the Xerces Society.  The Xerces Society recommends only burning 30% of a particular habitat patch in a given year to ensure long-term diversity of native polinators. 

Prescribed Burn Locations, Schiff Nature Preserve, Mendham, NJ

Prescribed Burn Locations, Schiff Nature Preserve, Mendham, NJ

In the forested areas of the Preserve, we want to reduce the density of non-native invasive plants which dominate the understory and inhibit forest regeneration.  Frequent burning will reduce the density of non-native invasive plants. At the same time we implement this prescribed burning plan, we are overhauling our white-tailed deer management program, which up to now has had limited success at reducing the over-browsing of our native plants.

The idea is that as the deer herd is reduced, the invasives will concurrently be reduced by yearly prescribed burning.  Eventually we will reduce the frequency of burning and hope to start to see native plants regenerating in the growing space vacated by the invasives.   I am a big proponent of adaptive management, so we will also be developing a simple monitoring protocol in order to determine if we are getting the ecological results we are expecting.  

I am interested to learn how others are using prescribed burning as a land management tool.