Prescribed Burns A Success
Author: Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership

The first series of prescribed burns in the Shawangunks in over twenty-five years were successfully completed last week (Nov. 21) at the Spring Farm area of the Mohonk Preserve by the Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership. The Partnership is a science-based, public/private consortium of agencies dedicated to the long-term protection of the Shawangunks. The series of three burns was managed by a team of trained wildland fire managers assembled by the Partnership.

Burn crew members from the Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership consult along the fire line during a prescribed burn at Mohonk Preserve in November. Photo: The Nature Conservancy

The prescribed fire management team included Mohonk Preserve Rangers, Nature Conservancy staff from the Shawangunks and the Albany Pine Bush, Mohonk Mountain House staff, a Student Conservation Association fire team, and several qualified volunteer firefighters. Rangers from Minnewaska State Park Preserve and DEC Rangers were on hand as back-up. 

Prescribed fires are set intentionally and safely under predetermined conditions to achieve specific land management objectives.  “Prescribed” fire means that the fire will not be set unless all of the required conditions are met at the site. These include time of year, wind speed and direction, temperature, relative humidity, fuel moisture and having qualified, burn crew members and appropriate, wildland firefighting equipment on hand. 

The go-ahead for each Spring Farm burn was given once it was determined that the weather and all other predetermined conditions ensuring safety had been met. "Our emphasis in this first set of burns was to demonstrate the safe use of fire as a management tool, working with a team of firefighters from partner organizations and agencies. We will study the impact of fire on woody species in the fields burned, to assess how well it can help us maintain our open fields,” said Glenn Hoagland , Executive Director of the Mohonk Preserve, an anchor research site for the Partnership. 

The three burn units, ranging from four to seven acres in size, were in open fields on the Preserve. The Mohonk Preserve will monitor the effects of the burn on the fields' ecology and will evaluate the effectiveness of burning in keeping the fields open.   

“The Preserve is testing whether prescribed burning can provide a cost-effective way to maintain open fields that make up part of our historic and ecologically important landscape,” said Hank Alicandri , the Preserve's Head Ranger and Director of Stewardship.

“Fire is an alternative to mowing and helps reduce the growth of woody vegetation,” continued Alicandri. “Open fields are also a good place to train wildland firefighters in the specific techniques of prescribed fire, because the high visibility across the fields makes them an easy place to observe operations underway,” he added.

Fire has played a major role in shaping the ecology of the forests of the Shawangunk Ridge. Over the last fifty years, wildland fires have been suppressed along the ridge, and scientists report that the absence of fire may change the forest, resulting in a decrease of biodiversity.

“Oak forests across the Northeast, including those in the Shawangunks, are failing to regenerate as they once did,” said Gabe Chapin, Land Steward for The Nature Conservancy's Shawangunk Ridge Program. “Some scientists attribute this lack of regeneration to the absence of fire,” continued Chapin.  “Ecologists predict a continued decline of this important forest in the Shawangunks unless management action – such as prescribed burning -- is taken to encourage oak regeneration,” he added. 

The Shawangunks boast the second largest chestnut oak forest in New York . The acorns from these oak forests provide an important food source for a wide range of wildlife on the ridge – from mice and other small animals to turkeys and deer.

Fire is also necessary to maintain the globally rare pitch pine barrens and associated forest types found in the Shawangunks. “Some important vegetational communities in the Shawangunks have developed adaptations that allow them to survive, or even depend on periodic fires,” said Cara Lee , Director of The Nature Conservancy's Shawangunk Ridge Program.  “Extensive research from across the Northeast shows that fire helps recycle nutrients and can reduce invasive species,” she added. 

Fire benefits biodiversity by maintaining habitat for a broad range of common, rare, and endangered species.  Additionally, prescribed burns reduce the probability of wildfires by decreasing the accumulation of overgrown vegetation, dead wood, and other wildland fuels that build up over time.

Fire management in the Shawangunks is funded in part through a grant awarded by the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, USDA Forest Service.

For more information about prescribed burning in the Shawangunks, please visit www.gunksfireplan.org