September 13, 2012 at 5:16 pm
The morning of August 24th rolled into Brownfield with blue skies, a few clouds, and only occasional wisps of wind; it was a perfect morning for setting the woods on fire in IFW’s Brownfield Wildlife Management Area (WMA).
The Maine Forest Service, the USDA Forest Service, IFW, The Nature Conservancy, NOAA, and the Maine Army National Guard all congregated for the prescribed burn. ATVs and trucks were loaded up, torch cans and water tanks were filled with their respective fluids and the throng of people was briefed on the game plan for the prescribed burn. Everybody was outfitted in NOMEX clothing, hard hats, and harnesses equipped with emergency fire blankets. The excitement and anticipation hung thick in the air.
The Brownfield WMA is a 5,700 acre parcel of land owned by IFW and managed for a variety of animal and plant species. The area to be burned was about 25 acres of forest in which the dominant plant species were pitch pine and scrub oak. Both of these species are classified as imperiled in Maine and are vital to the life cycle of multiple rare and endangered insect species. Pitch pine and scrub oak forests are dependent on fire to perpetuate and they are quickly losing ground to land development and natural succession. The understory of this parcel was becoming thick with a variety of short plant species that were competing with saplings for sunlight and nutrients. To encourage pitch pine and scrub oak growth, and give a foot hold to the insect species who are dependent on them, which also aids everything further up the food chain, the prescribed burn was a necessity.
With NOAA personnel taking and reporting weather readings every half an hour, the burn progressed safely and as planned through the two designated sections, separated from the rest of the WMA with 15 foot fire breaks that were cleared previously. As predicted, flames licked at everything in the area from ground level to 3 feet high, but they did not get above that level.
At the end of the day the future for young pitch pine and scrub oak in the burned area of the WMA was looking positive. As the new young trees begin to come up, they will provide precious habitat for a multitude of insect species, meaning increased food for bats and birds in the area. They will also provide invaluable cover and forage for the various herbivores, as well as healthy hunting grounds for the carnivores. The cleared understory also reduces fuel loads, meaning should a wild-fire break out in that area, it will burn less intensely and can be much more easily controlled.
While there’s a lot of mixed feelings associated with Maine woods on fire, in this case, it was just what the doctor, or biologists, prescribed.
For more information about our WMAs, or to find a WMA near you, visit mefishwildlife.com, or visit the WMA link on the side of this page.\
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