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Use current fire management best practices: Restore pitch pine woodlands

Adaptation Strategies and Actions

Use current fire management best practices: Restore pitch pine woodlands

Adaptation type: 
Land and forest stewardship or restoration

Strategy:

Use current fire management best practices to maintain ecosystem processes

Action

Restore pitch pine woodlands
It is believed that native forests, functioning as they have evolved to over time, will provide the most resilient forests.  Pitch pine-scrub oak forests are a unique part of Massachusetts' landscape and are home to a number of rare moths. This type of forest is fire-dependent, which means that it needs periodic fires to regenerate itself. Without periodic fires, these forests turn into closed-canopy white pine and red maple forests.

Where politically feasible, a prescribed burn will help to maintain this important and unique forest type and may be the most efficient way to remove forest fuels before they accumulate to dangerous levels. Extreme care must be taken, including proper permitting and preparation. Contact your local fire department about fire regulations. If prescribed burns are not feasible, enhancement plantings of pitch pine may help maintain this forest type.

Target Species, Species Groups, Habitats and Stressors

Habitats and Species Groups: 

Scope and Constraints

Time: 
Ongoing action
Cost: 
Higher cost category
Geographical: 
Parcel-scale
Town-scale
Regional-scale
State-scale

Goals

Forestry Goal 2: Reduce stress to forests

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