Controlled burn slated in preserve

February 15, 2007
By: ED MOORHOUSE

WOODLAND — The New Jersey Conservation Foundation and the state Forest Fire Service are planning a controlled burn this month in a portion of the Franklin Parker Preserve in the township.

The purpose of the intentionally-set fire in the 9,400-acre preserve is to decrease the risk of wildfires by reducing the amount of fuel in the forest in a controlled way.

Prescribed fire is also used to help create and maintain habitats for plant and animal species.

“The goal is to burn off a good portion of the fuel that builds up in the forest,” said Tim Morris, director of stewardship for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. “This does two things. First, it decreases the risk that a fire will even start by burning off the highly flammable material such as dry leaves and grass. We also burn off the material so that if there is a fire, the fire does not spread.”

“If a fire ever started, it would hit a break created by the controlled burn so it does not spread,” he said.

Morris said the foundation has a permit from the state Forest Fire Service to burn up to 170 acres.

The foundation wants to burn at least 100 acres, including a small tract along Route 563 and in a larger portion of the preserve west of Route 563 and south of Route 532.

Morris said a controlled burn is dependent on weather conditions.

“You have to have good, predictable conditions,” he said. “The time period for these burns is December to mid-March. In that time, there are maybe a dozen days where there are perfect conditions.”

Horace Somes, division fire warden for the Forest Fire Service, said it is important to reduce the spread of a forest fire.

“One aspect of it is how we prevent catastrophic fires and prevent the loss of life and property,” Somes said. “(The burns) break up very large blocks of woods where there are not large highways (to break up the fire), reduce fuel hazards, and especially protect the small community areas in Chatsworth and Jenkins and reduce the spread should a fire occur.”

Morris said the burns also eliminate what's known as a fire ladder, where grass, shrubs and leaves act as ladders by carrying the flames from the forest floor to the tops of trees.

“The goal is to interrupt that progression,” Morris said.

Morris said the foundation would plan more controlled burns in larger areas of the preserve in the future.

“We're doing some trial burns now to work out a mechanism to blend land management goals with fire prevention and management,” Somes said. “It keeps things a little more fire-safe. It can never be fireproof,” he said.

Each year, an average of 1,500 wildfires damage or destroy 7,000 acres of New Jersey forests, according to the Forest Fire Division's Web site.

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