Bill to allow prescribed burns

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,153
4,257
Pines; Bamber area
I think it's too late. Nobody in the NJFFS would be on board with ramping things up. Here is a public announcement from about a month ago from the state warden:

"It is extremely important that the public understand that a moment of carelessness can cause a wildfire that puts lives and homes at risk.”

These kind of announcements mean no politician would ever be on board with planning hotter fires in order to promote the windswept plains of old-time Pine Barrens.

No, the elemental pine barrens that we see in old, grainy, black and white photographs are hopelessly doomed. We still have some nice spots of stunted trees and blinding white sand covered in myrtle, heather, and trailing arbutus, but they will eventually be overcome by other plants some day.

I'm glad I got to see what's left.
 
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Pinesbucks

Explorer
Apr 15, 2013
295
111
Bob I agree. The landscape is changing drastically. They will not do big burns to keep it the way it was. Too many homes now and they won't take the blame if they lose control. Even the short pines are way taller then even when I was a kid and that wasnt that long ago.
 
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GermanG

Piney
Apr 2, 2005
1,111
434
Little Egg Harbor
Bob I agree. The landscape is changing drastically. They will not do big burns to keep it the way it was. Too many homes now and they won't take the blame if they lose control. Even the short pines are way taller then even when I was a kid and that wasnt that long ago.

They won't even have to take the blame. There are thousands of Monday morning quarterbacks who will gladly assign it to them. They'd be nuts to attempt what the pines really need. But there is a plan B. Mechanical thinning, such as what has been done on the Haines property in Chatsworth. It would mimic the effects that unrestricted fire once had and could be maintained with subsequent prescribed burns, which probably couldn't crown if you wanted them to do. The only problem is that too many view tree cutting the way fire was once viewed, something to be avoided at all costs. An uphill battle, to say the least.
 
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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,153
4,257
Pines; Bamber area
I had a reply to your post German, but I deleted it. I don't want to debate your assertion that mechanical thinning will mimic wildfire. Let's just say that I think it's not feasible, and it's quite a claim.
 

ecampbell

Piney
Jan 2, 2003
2,840
958
Looking at the Hain's property today, the trees have rebounded but the growth is very dense. The trees are leggy sticks. I don't see any big old growth pines coming out of this. Also look at the white pines planted by the Lebanon fire tower. Just a bunch of sticks.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
8,177
I miss more than anything riding down 72 in the evening and seeing vast stretches of the tops of trees. Now that road is unremarkable compared to 35 years ago.
 

rc911

Explorer
Apr 23, 2015
105
90
Cream Ridge, NJ
I was in Colliers Mills WMA two days ago and the remnants of a controlled burn were still smoldering. This 7 foot tall trunk must have stood for a long time concentrating it's pine resin as the smoke had that tell tale aroma.
 

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