This BCA comprises one of the largest undisturbed pine barrens plant communities on Long Island. The habitat includes ten different cover types of oak and pitch pine forests and shrublands with the associated complex of Common Nighthawk, Whip-poor-will, Brown Thrasher, Blue-winged Warbler and Pine Warbler. Grasshopper Sparrows used to occur, but their habitat is disappearing and they may have been lost from the area. Eastern Towhees are by far the most common bird species encountered. There is very little open grassland habitat left on the property; most of the open areas have returned to forests or are more of a savannah-type habitat now.

Maintenance of these plant communities requires prevention of vegetative succession, preferably through the use of controlled fires. Natural fires were a dominant ecological force historically, that shaped the ecology of the pine barrens habitat. Without an effective controlled burning program, this unique pine barren habitat and the species that rely on it will be lost on the property.

Identify seasonal sensitivities; adjust routine operations accordingly.

Removal of vegetation and prescribed burns need to be timed so as not to interfere with nesting periods. Caution should be used to leave some areas of nesting habitat intact each year, when management (e.g., prescribed burns) occurs prior to nesting season.

The pine barrens requires fire to maintain the habitat and this feature has been lacking at the property. Some prescribed burning (controlled fires) needs to be performed to restore the habitat to savannah rather than forest and also to reduce the fuel load that is building up in the brush layers and can lead to catastrophic wildfire. Catastrophic wildfire may convert the pine-oak forest and savannah to predominantly oak forest. This occurs in a very hot fire that kills the trees and seeds, but allows the oaks to regenerate from the stump. Controlled fires remove the litter and control succession, without changing the vegetative community from pine-oak.

The Nature Conservancy and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation have received a National Fire Plan grant to create a demonstration site in the Long Island Central Pine Barrens. Treatments are scheduled to begin in 2005. The information for this web page comes primarily from the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) project description and from communications with Brian Kurtz, Fire Management Specialist for The Nature Conservancy, Long Island Chapter. To download the entire SEQRA project description, click here. (200 KB pdf)

The Pitch Pine, oak, and ericaceous shrub-dominated forests of the Long Island Central Pine Barrens represent an extremely volatile fuel type with a long history of severe fires. Coupled with a dense human population and decades of extensive development, the Central Pine Barrens present a significant wildland-urban interface hazard. These fire-dependent barrens are also an important habitat for a variety of rare, threatened, and endangered plant and insect species.

In 1995, the Central Pine Barrens Commission formed a Wildfire Task Force to develop a coordinated approach to fire management. The Wildfire Task Force has identified the need to begin a proactive approach to managing forest fuels through ecologically compatible mechanical treatments and prescribed fires.

Prescribed fire is a relatively new and unfamiliar tool for land managers, decision-makers, and the general public on Long Island. To date, forest fuel treatments on Long Island have been limited in variation and scope. In order for prescribed fire or mechanical fuel reduction techniques to be applied at a meaningful scale, local demonstration projects are needed for public education and as a learning opportunity for land managers to observe first-hand the results of different management.

Accordingly, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and The Nature Conservancy have jointly proposed a demonstration project within a portion of the David Sarnoff Preserve. The project entails two major goals: the use of various combinations of prescribed fire and mechanical treatments to reduce the likelihood and severity of wildfires and to provide for ecological restoration at the same time. The proposed activities will establish a 350-acre fire management demonstration site within the Long Island Central Pine Barrens.

The Nature Conservancy, The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and its partners are
working to promote healthy shrubland, woodland and forest communities in the Central Pine Barrens.

Monitoring

To gauge the results of our restoration efforts we have spent 70 crew days of monitoring pre (baseline) and post treatment data
such as:
� wetland/tiger salamander populations (Jannsen): spring 2005 and 2006
� avian census (NYSDEC): summer 2005 and 2006
� macro-moth survey (McGuiness): new moon,1x per month, May-October 2006
� fuel load surveys (TNC): summer 2005 and 2006
� vegetation surveys (TNC): summer 2005 and 2006..
� immediate Post Fire Effects (TNC/DEC) Spring and Summer 2006

Mechanical Treatments:

Mowing and thinning of vegetation has proved an important step in the process in restoring our fire-adapted ecosystems.
Recent efforts have included a total of 146 acres of mowing and selective tree felling in order to maintain open shrubland and
woodland communities, including: 45 acres August 2005,
46 acres April 2006, 55 acres August 2006)

In 2006, we have burned a total of 69 acres: 28 dormant season,
41 growing season.