Understanding the Ossipee Pine Barrens

Stewardship Ecologist Jeff Lougee measures fuel loads in the
Ossipee Pine Barrens. Eric Aldrich photo (C) TNC.

Conservancy staffers were on their hands and knees throughout the Ossipee Pine Barrens recently, trying to better understand how the area's vegetation might react to fire. The Conservancy is looking to carefully restore fire to the Ossipee Pine Barrens ecosystem.

For thousands of years, routine bouts of fire has shaped the pine barrens, a place of sandy soils, pitch pine, scrub oak and an unusual assortment of birds and moths. But as new houses and businesses have appeared, fire has all but disappeared on account of fire suppression. The last major fire occurred here in 1953.

Those steady fires kept the pitch pine stands healthy, leaving a vigorous understory of scrub oak and blueberries. They also kept the white pines , red maples, and other fire intolerant plants in check, preventing them from overtaking the pitch pine stands.

And in the decades since a big fire, the woods have gradually built up a considerable amount of dry tinder, or fuel. That's what brought Conservancy staffers to their knees for three days late last month -- to scientifically measure and describe that fuel load. At more than 70 points throughout the Pine Barrens, staffers took careful notes about the amount of woody debris on the forest floor. Along 50-foot transects, they even recorded the number and size of each twig on the ground or snag in the trees.

"We'll use the field data that was collected to better understand both the amount of fuel present, and what it's comprised of," said Jeffrey Lougee, the Conservancy's stewardship ecologist. "This will enable us to create a map of fuel categories for the pine barrens, which in turn we can use to predict fire behavior under different weather scenarios. If a wildfire occurs someday, we'll have a much better understanding of where it's going to go, and how fast"

One surprising find during the fuels mapping exercise was another rare moth in the Ossipee Pine Barrens. Although the New England buckmoth has been found in other parts of the state, this is the first time the New England buckmoth has been found in the pine barrens.