FAIRVIEW TWP. – Ryan Gildea scrutinized the forest floor and liked what he saw.
All around him were tiny oak tree seedlings, the delicate benefit of a fire that consumed the area in the spring.
Gildea, who is a land management group supervisor with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, visited state game lands 207 on Sept. 17 to measure the impact of a prescribed burn conducted on April 25. The fire, which was intentionally set by the PGC, served as a tool to improve wildlife habitat and, Gildea hopes, change the composition of the forest for decades to come.
“Our goal is to develop the next generation of an oak forest right here on 207,” Gildea said. “The seedbank is here.”
Oaks and other hardwoods used to dominate much of the forest landscape in Pennsylvania, but over the last several decades the species have been out-competed by maple and birch. The lack of fire, which oaks can withstand, allowed other undesirable species to thrive.
That’s why conservationists like Gildea are happy to have fire as a tool to manage today’s forests.
Before the prescribed burn, much of 207 was dominated by red maple and birch. Several large oaks remained, but the seedlings that sprouted from their acorns didn’t stand much chance as they were shaded out by the maple and birch.
The thick understory prevented the Game Commission from manually spraying to kill each maple and birch, and to cut them all would be too labor intensive, Gildea said.
Fire was the best option because maple and birch can’t tolerate the flames, while oak species not only survive, but thrive after a burn.
Still, due to the proximity of several residences and the Wyoming Valley below game lands 207, Game Commission staff were careful to keep the fire low to the ground.
“We really had to monitor the smoke, because we didn’t want it drifting into Wilkes-Barre,” Gildea said. “We don’t need a fire that is intense, but rather one that burns with duration and just creeps along the ground.”
A low, slow-moving fire effectively removes the leaf litter on the ground and burns just high enough to kill the smaller maples and birch trees that shade the oak sprouts. By burning away the leaf litter, Gildea said, the prescribed burn actually reduces the risk of uncontrolled wildfires.
But for now, the main objective of the prescribed burn is to change the composition of the forest.
“Removing the leaf litter helps that happen because the acorns that fall from these big oaks, they now contact the bare soil and the sunlight is reaching them,” Gildea said. “The older oaks are the future seed supply for this forest.”
The prescribed burn was conducted in three units on 207, spanning parts of Fairview, Hanover and Rice townships. Gildea said one goal of the project was to kill 60 percent of the fire-intolerant maple and birch. That determination won’t be made until two growing seasons have taken place, but based on his initial return to the site, Gildea believes the goal was achieved.
He added if the maple and birch trees do re-generate and start to shade the oak saplings, the Game Commission can conduct another burn in three years. Additional burns are also planned for other areas of 207 next year, a move that will not only benefit oak trees, but change the age structure of the forest as well.
While the hope is the oak trees will benefit from the fire, the site on 207 presented Gildea and PGC staff with a unique challenge. Rock outcrops on the Fairview Township section of 207 are home to several rare plants – three-toothed cinquefoil, low serviceberry, Bicknell’s sedge, Susquehanna sand sherry and blue lupine. Gildea wondered how well the plant communities would handle the introduction of fire on the landscape.
After the burn, officials with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources visited the site and found the rare plant species not only tolerated the fire, but were invigorated by the change in the landscape.
“The range for those species could actually expand because we’re removing the competing trees and brush that cover the rock outcrops. Those rare plants are responding to that,” Gildea said.
Still, the benefits of the prescribed burn spread beyond the rare plants and oaks. Several species of wildlife also take advantage of a landscape changed by fire.
According to Gildea, turkeys soon moved into the burned area to pick for bugs on the open forest floor. Deer were also a common sight as they browsed the shoots of maple and birch that sprouted from burned trunks. Grouse will also benefit, he said, as the forest understory grows back thick in a few years.
But the best benefit to wildlife will be when oak trees dominate the landscape of 207 again, with the aid of fire.
“There’s only a few big oaks left here, and if a gypsy moth infestation came through they could die off, changing the forest forever,” Gildea said. “Our goal is to help these oak seedlings grow and develop a new hardwood forest on 207.”
Cutlines: (fire 1, 1a and 3 taken by Tom Venesky; fire4 submitted by the Pennsylvania Game Commission)
Fire1 and 1a – Ryan Gildea of the Pennsylvania Game Commission looks for oak seedlings in an area of game lands that was recently burned. The PGC conducted a controlled burn on the site to encourage oak tree regeneration.
Fire3 – An oak tree seedling grows on the charred landscape of state game lands 207. Oak species can withstand fire and often thrive after competing maple and birch trees are killed by the flames.
Fire4 – A prescribed burn was conducted on state game lands 207, between Wilkes-Barre and Mountain Top, last spring. The Pennsylvania Game Commission hopes the fire encourages the growth of oak seedlings.
–This story appeared in The Citizens’ Voice on Sept. 29, 2019
