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Brett Hubbard in the Ossipee Pine Barrens

Brett Hubbard in the Ossipee Pine Barrens, Madison © Eric Aldrich/TNC

Fire in the Ossipee Pine Barrens - Postcard from Field

Joanne Glode and Brett Hubbard touch down fire, Madison © Eric Aldrich/TNC

Fire englufs the woods

Fire engulfs the woods, Madison 
© Eric Aldrich/TNC

A feeling of great pride was evident in our accomplishments

Fire Crew Circle

The fire crew discusses the day's burn
© Brett Hubbard/TNC

Postcards From the Field

Ossipee Pine Barrens Fire Journal

By Brett Hubbard
Northern New Hampshire Science and Stewardship Assistant

Brett Hubbard began in the hunt for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker this past January with the Conservancy.  Upon completing the search in Congaree National Park, she moved to New Hampshire to become the Science and Stewardship Assistant.  Through this position, she was trained as an S130/190 firefighter and was able to learn about the healing effects of fire through hands on experience, which she documents below.

September 19, 2007
Ossipee Pine Barrens, Madison, N.H.


Fire! Fire! Fire!  My brain screamed this the moment I came awake.  We were going to set fire today, on purpose, for a great reason.

Growing up with Smokey the Bear’s message that “I can prevent forest fires” was inspirational.  I made sure to promptly and completely put out all of the camp fires I had enjoyed.  So when I was sent to fires school to learn how to set fires, I was intrigued.  And after learning all of the techniques of suppressing wildfires and how to start a prescribed burn, I received my red card certification.

The Ossipee Pine Barrens is a natural community in New Hampshire that contains pitch pine, blueberry and scrub oak, which play host to a variety of rare and threatened bird species, Lepidoptera (moths) and mammals.  This ecosystem is fire dependent, meaning that for regeneration of flora, fire must burn through, clearing the ground for open sunlight.  It is here that Smokey has done a wonderful job in teaching the public that fire is a bad entity so we have put them out, disallowing the canopy to open and providing habitat for species that wouldn’t typically occur here, like white pine.

Over the past 15 years the lingo of prescribed fire has gained ground in the conservation world as a manner in which to prevent the most devastating kind of fire -- crown fires –the kind that lights a tree at its top and then spreads from crown to crown.  A fire of this type would not only destroy the globally rare pitch pine/scrub oak habitat of the Ossipee Pine Barrens, but would surely devour the neighboring homes as well.  So for over five years, the Conservancy has carefully planned to fight fire with fire.

Finally, after much preparation of small, defined sites and two months of waiting for the perfect weather, the time to burn the Ossipee Pine Barrens had come.  A tri-state crew from TNC, aided by numerous other partners, put down a test fire and watched that fire ignite scrub oak and blueberry.  We pulled the fire down the flanks of the unit slowly and methodically, all the while watching how the fire was reacting.  After three hours we ringed the unit with fire, creating safe, blackened areas around the unit and watched as the fire consumed the last of the live plants.

I have come, in my brief experience, to love watching a small flame ignite and catch on some dry scrub oak leaves and low blueberry bushes; to watch the flames catch and spread, climb tree limbs and torch full trees; to walk around my burned area and look at the charred remains – blackened, burned, still smoking.

After putting out all these smoking objects so that no fire could creep out of our unit, we sat in a circle and debriefed.  Our Incident Commander asked several questions about surprises, safety and things we learned.  As each person answered, a feeling of great pride was evident in our accomplishments.  We brought fire back in a safe and controlled manner to an area that hadn’t had it in over 50 years.  We had started our fire program successfully and with great hope for the future of the pine barrens and the species and people who live there.

 

TNC's Fire Initiative Resources