Effects of fire management on pine plains vegetation at Warren Grove Air National Guard Range, New Jersey

Fire management is controversial in many US forests due to increasing human population in the wildland urban interface. However, fire is associated with maintenance of plant community structure; it alters species richness and species composition in Northeastern USA forests. Warren Grove Range (WGR) is located in the globally imperiled Pine Plains habitat in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Fire frequency is believed to be a dominant factor in the development of this fire adapted habitat. Suppressing fire can modify the historical fire regime and potentially alter vegetation composition; however, fire management can be used to restore fire to the Pine Plains. The WGR's prescribed burning strategy includes high frequency, low intensity, winter burning for hazard reduction, but the strategy for the remainder of the Pine Barrens Region is fire suppression. The main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of different fire frequencies on vegetation composition and structure, and to determine the response and recovery of Pine Plains vegetation after a prescribed burn. I found there was no relationship between fire frequency and species composition. Fire frequency did not affect oak density or canopy coverage. However, pine tree density and canopy coverage decreased with increasing fire frequency. Pine tree coverage was significantly greater in older areas than in more recently burned areas. Pine and oak trees were significantly taller in older burn areas than in more recently burned areas. Five to seventeen months after a high intensity prescribed burn, species similarity was greater than 60%. In addition, species composition returned to pre-fire conditions seventeen months after a burn. Pine importance declined after fire but rebounded during the second year. Thus, the fire adapted traits of the Pine Plains vegetation enabled the habitat to recover quickly after a high intensity prescribed burn. Overall, the results suggest the current fire management strategy employed at WGR maintains typical Pine Plains vegetation.