Fire: Nature’s Double Agent

Fire: Nature’s Double Agent. Cedar Bridge Tavern. , The word fire is most typically associated with destruction. However, in nature, fire is a natural ecological process that promotes growth, recycles nutrients, and helps create unique, crucial habitat that without it would disappear. Fire has shaped the New Jersey Pine Barrens for thousands of years and without it would cease to exist., To understand the nature of fire, one must first understand its role in society and the natural environment., Fire is harmful when: , Fire can degrade environmental health. Extreme heat can kill benefical soil organisms and change soil chemistry. Runoff carry ash into waterways, negatively impacting fish and plants. , Fire can threaten vegetation and wildlife. Aside from immediate injury or death, fire can also destroy habitat and decrease diversity, interrupting the food chain. , Fire can threaten human lives and property. This includes both residents and emergency response personnel. The financial cost of wildfire combat and rebuilding afterward can be extreme., Fire is fun when: , Fire recycles nutrients by burning dead vegetation, turning it into nutrient rich ash. This also thins the canopy, allowing sunlight to reach the forest floor. Both of these actions help to stimulate growth. , Low intensity fire or prescribed burning can reduce wildfire risk by consuming leaf litter and fuels that build up on the forest floor. This decreases the intensity and speed of wildfires that ignite. , Fire can provide critical habitat by burning some areas of the forest while leaving others intact. This creates pockets of differing ecological success providing habitat for a variety of species. , Fire Adapted Species. Bracken fern takes an active approach to fire. In the fall when it goes dormant, the dead fronds stay upright, easily igniting during a fire and moving fire up the ladder, eliminating surrounding competing plants. Bracken Ferns are able to send up new shoots within days from their modified underground stems called rhizomes., Blueberries and huckleberries grow slowly and store extra energy in their root systems, which are protected beneath the soil. After a fire, they use this energy and quickly send up new shoots which grow fast to take advantage of the reduced competition. Nutrient rich ash left behind helps speed up growth during this time., Pitch Pines are one of the best adapted of all the fire tolerant species. Its defense strategies include: , - Thick bark to protect the living wood , - Dormant buds that emerge when needles die from fire called epicormics branches , - Dormant buds at the base of the tree if the living wood dies , - Resin-sealed cones that open after fire to spread seeds called serotinous cones.