Prescribed Burn

 

Prescribed fire in a pine forest in Washington - Photo credit: Ken Meinhart, USFWS

The prescribed burn scheduled to take place on Peaslee WMA along 1st Avenue, beginning today on the northwest side of 1st Avenue, between Cape May Avenue and Route 49 has been postponed. The State Forestry Service was granted a timing restriction extension and will not enter this area until after archery deer season ends on January 31. The Forest Fire Service will attempt to wait until the end of the small game season on February 20, but if a window opens in February and the long-term planning forecast is not favorable it will be treated before the end of the small game season.

Peaslee Wildlife Management Area is the second-largest WMA in the state of New Jersey.

A controlled or prescribed burn (also known as hazard reduction burning, backfire, swailing, or a burn-off) is a fire set intentionally for purposes of forest management, farming, prairie restoration, or greenhouse gas abatement. Fire is a natural part of both forest and grassland ecology and controlled fire can be a tool for foresters. We have heard a lot about it in the news in connection with the fires on the West Coast 

Prescribed burns are also done in New Jersey. Hazard reduction or controlled burning is conducted during the cooler months to reduce fuel buildup and decrease the likelihood of serious hotter fires. 

Controlled burning actually stimulates the germination of some desirable forest trees, and reveals soil mineral layers that increase seedling vitality, thus renewing the forest. Some cones (such as those of lodgepole pine and sequoia) are serotinous, meaning they require heat from a fire to open the cones and to disperse seeds.

The Peaslee Wildlife Management Area is in Atlantic, Cape May & Cumberland Counties (Dennis, Estell Manor, Maurice River & Upper Townships) and covers 34,152 acres.

The NJ Forest Fire Service is facing a limited time frame when they can complete this prescribed burn which will function as a strategic fuel break that would hold fire from entering into the extensively inaccessible tract to the south. In addition to acting as a fuel break, it will increase public safety and reduce the possibility of fire impacting a much larger area. 

Map of the burn area

Birding and Wildlife Trails at Peaslee