Fire Research

In 1986, the Cape Cod National Seashore, in cooperation with the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, initiated applied research on the effectiveness of varying the season and frequency of treatments (prescribed burning or bush cutting) on forest composition, fuel loading and fire behavior. Sixty 0.1 - acre plots were established to create the Lombard-Paradise Hollow Fire Management Research Area within the seashore boundries.

Preliminary results of the research indicate that burning during the spring and summer reduces fuel loads. Burning at a 3 to 4 year intervals is the most cost efficient way to reduce fuel loading. Oak saplings resprout vigorously after spring burns. Both mowing and burning during the dormant season encourage huckleberry and blueberry vegetation to grow, but hot fires are required to open up the canopy and allow light to reach the forest floor and encourage berry production. Summer burns conducted during drought conditions consume duff layers, kill most shrubs and favor pine seedling establishment. Annual summer brush-cutting eliminates shrubs and reduces the amount of litter and dead wood that fuel wildfires. Combinations of mowing followed by burning, when applied in the summer, are effective methods of quickly reducing fuel loads and fire hazard.

The Fire Management Program has also worked in conjunction with park scientists to better understand the effects of fire on Phragmites australis, an invasive plant, in Hatches Harbor in Provincetown.

Recently, researchers from the University of Central Florida - Dr. Von Holle Restoration Ecology Lab, began working with the Fire Management Program to reseach the role fire has in the regeneration of Broom Crowberry (Corema conradii).

Years of research and data analysis have been used to plan day to day operations for the Fire Management Crew. Through the establishment of a successful fire effects monitoring program and continue work with both NPS Staff and Non-NPS organizations, the Fire Management Program continues to align their efforts with the NPS hazard fuels program goals. In recognition of their successful program, the Cape Cod National Seashore was awarded the 2011 Achievement in Implementing Adaptive Management Award.

Lombard-Paradise Hollow Fire Management Research Area

The Lombard-Paradise Hollow Fire Management Research Area encompasses approximately 30 acres of land within Cape Cod National Seashore. Located west of Route 6 in South Truro, the research area is situated on top of a plateau between Paradise Hollow to the south and Lombard Hollow to the north.

Periodic wildland fire helped create the fire-adapted pine-oak woodland vegetation type found throughout the Seashore and within the research area. The dominant canopy species are pitch pine (Pinus rigida) and white and black oaks (Quercus alba and Q. velutina), with scrub oak (Q. ilicifolia), huckleberry (Gaylusaccia baccata), blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), and wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) in the understory.

Before the land was acquired by the National Park Service in 1961, it had been logged and grazed but not cultivated. Over the last 100 years the forest has experienced chronic gypsy moth defoliation and wildfire, which burned prior to the 1930’s. Decades of fire suppression altered historic fire cycles and allowed wildland fuels to accumulate, again raising the threat of
wildfires which could threaten structures within the Seashore boundaries.

In 1986, the National Park Service, in cooperation with the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, initiated applied research on the effectiveness of varying the season and frequency of treatments on forest composition, fuel loading, and fire behavior on sixty 0.1-acre plots. In 1995, larger 1-acre plots were established, and in 2003 nine additional 0.5-acre plots were created. Fuel treatments included prescribed burning and mowing (brush cutting).

The research conducted at Lombard-Paradise Hollow set the stage for large-scale fuel treatments to be conducted throughout the Seashore. The study helps fire managers develop treatment methods to decrease the chances of catastrophic wildfire within the Seashore.

Treatments have been evaluated with respect to their effectiveness in restoring and maintaining ecological integrity of fire-adapted ecosystems. The treatments have also provided training opportunities for wildland firefighters, as well as prescriptions for improving public safety in the wildland-urban interface.

Preliminary Results

Results of the research indicate that burning during the spring and summer reduces fuel loads. Burning at 3-4 year intervals is the most cost efficient way to reduce fuels and prevent catastrophic wildfires. Oak saplings resprout vigorously after spring burns. Both mowing and burning in the dormant season encourage huckleberry and blueberry vegetation to grow, but hot fires are required to open up the canopy and allow light to reach the forest floor and encourage berry production. Summer burns conducted during drought conditions consume duff layers, kill most shrubs, and favor pine seedling establishment. Annual summer brush-cutting eliminates shrubs and reduces the amount of litter and dead wood that fuel wildfires. Combinations of mowing followed by burning, when applied in the summer, are effective methods of quickly reducing fuel loads and fire hazard. Research at this site is ongoing to better understand the long-term effects of disturbance on the pine-oak ecosystem.

Principle Investigators for the project are:

Dr. William A. Patterson III
Professor of Forestry
214 Holdsworth Natural Resources Center
Box 34210
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003-4210
(413) 545-1970 / wap@forwild.umass.edu

David W. Crary, Jr.
Former Fire Management Officer
Cape Cod National Seashore

Publications

Responses of Soil Carbon, Nitrogen and Cations to the Frequency and Seasonality of Prescribed Burning in a Cape Cod Oak-Pine Forest