BY JOE GORDEN
The Tribune-Democrat
May 11, 2008 12:01 am
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Smoke climbed skyward over the Chickaree Mountain early last week, but it wasn’t from the typical brush fire that bedevils firefighters at this time of year. It was just the Pennsylvania Game Commission going about some habitat improvement.
Game commission forester Mike Kammerdiener said the Southwest Region has been using fire to manage forests on its game lands for four years, primarily to help young oak trees compete with other species.
“It’s a fact that oak is a fire species,” he said. “For the first 10 years of life, they put more of their reserves into their root system. When fire burns its top off, it has all kind of energy in the root and it responds better. The maple is usually killed. If we have established oak on the ground of a certain size, we run a fire through it to get rid of the other competition. Oak can’t compete with maple, cherry or tulip poplar in the seedling stage. They put all their energy in to what’s above ground, and they shade the oaks out. That’s one reason we’re losing our oaks. It’s not all just the deer.”
Kammerdiener said burning is also used as an alternative to herbicides in controlling unwanted species such as striped maple and birch because of a feeling that fire is more natural than chemicals.
“Another side benefit is, when you burn, you convert some of your leaf litter to short-term fertilizer,” he said. “It reinvigorates the soil and you get a benefit, for perhaps, a three-year period. So, you start to get a lot of different forbs and stuff you didn’t see before. Fire is a natural part of the environment.”
Foresters have known for a long time that prescribed burns, such as the one conducted Tuesday on State Game Land 79 near Vintondale, can be a valuable tool in forestry and wildlife management. But, many managers are afraid to use them here because of Pennsylvania’s liability laws.
Kammerdiener said Southwest Region manager Matt Hough decided four years ago that the benefits of burning outweighed the personal liability risk to himself. Enough other game commission employees felt the same to put together a volunteer crew to perform prescribed burns.
“Matt, myself and the other forester involved are as liable as you can get, should something happen,” Kammerdiener said. “Pennsylvania is one of eight states that have those century-old fire laws. But, there is a fire council in the state, and they’re working with various stakeholders on legislation to change that.”
Because of the personal liability, Kammerdiener said, the game commission does not require any of its regional foresters to include burning in their management plans, and few do. In those districts that include burning, the planning is painstaking. Kammerdiener said it took just a day to burn 101 acres on SGL 79, but two weeks of preparation to avoid potential problems and prepare to deal with any that might unexpectedly arise.
Kammerdiener said a prescribed burn on SGL 42 near New Florence was postponed last week because the weather was not favorable, just one of the many factors that must be considered.
“You just can’t burn everywhere,” he said. “You have to consider fuel loads and terrain and smoke.”
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