The Nature Conservancy Hires Student Conservation Association Interns to Help Restore LI Pine Barrens

Interns Monitoring Pine Barrens Health and Restoring Threatened Ecosystems

Cold Spring Harbor, NY — February 12, 2007 — As the global warming debate heats up around the world, things just may get a little hotter on Long Island’s east end. That’s because The Nature Conservancy is working with interns from the Student Conservation Association to restore the Long Island Pine Barrens using techniques including that of prescribed fire. The group is working on a 350-acre demonstration site at the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation's David A. Sarnoff Preserve in Riverhead.

The interns, Adam Laybourn from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gabby Andrews from Concord, New Hampshire, Katie Klingensmith from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Peter Reinert from Crawfordsville, Indiana are monitoring protected lands and treating areas by igniting fires on small management units (also known as prescribed fires) in order to prevent uncontrolled wildfire from spreading to nearby suburban neighborhoods. "Using prescribed fire in the Pine Barrens accomplishes two goals,” said Brian Kurtz, The Nature Conservancy supervisor for the SCA crew. “It reduces dense clumps of trees and brush, fallen leaves and other litter that can cause catastrophic wildfire damage to surrounding suburban neighborhoods. It also helps restore the health of sensitive Pine Barrens habitats that depend on fire to survive.”

The SCA crew works with an interagency fire team composed of Nature Conservancy staff employees of the New York State Departments of Environmental Conservation and Parks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and volunteers (volunteers cover both TNC and agency). In addition to conducting the treatments, SCA interns manage all of the equipment associated with monitoring, preparatory work, and burning.

“This group of committed individuals has accomplished critical applied conservation work and in fact, has exceeded our expectations,” Kurtz added.

Interns received specialized training and certification prior to engaging in this technical work. In October of 2006, The New York State Incident and Wildfire Management Academy provided the interns an additional specialized fire-training course on pumps and portable water sources.

“I never would have seen myself operating so many power tools” said Katie Klingensmith.

Adam Laybourn added, “The Pine Barrens has been the best ecology classroom that I’ve been in.”

This project will serve as a model and educational opportunity for land managers to learn about the effectiveness of on-the-ground ecological restoration treatments. It will also increment the experience of Long Island’s interagency prescribed fire crews.

Student Conservation Association. To find an internship that combines your talents and interests while promoting conservation work, visit www.thesca.org today!

The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. On Long Island, The Nature Conservancy has helped to preserve more than 100,000 acres. Visit us on the web at nature.org/longisland.