Random Ramblings: Aerial Wildland Firefighting

I have blogged about aerial wildland firefighting since 2009. I am not a firefighter and am not a pilot, just an interested bystander who wants to learn more and share what I learn here. Join me here as I blog on the aircraft and the pilots who fight wildland fires from the air in support of crews on the ground. I also blog on concerns affecting fire crews on the ground as well as other aviation and meteorology issues. Learn what it takes to do jobs that are staffed by the best of the best.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

New Jersey Pine Barrens trip (Oct. 27, 2014)

I had a great time in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Never enough time to see all that I want to see in what is a short day, considering it takes me about 90 minutes (one way) to get there. The weather was great, clear skies with temperatures in the mid to high 60s. Here is a map from Google Earth showing the places in the photos that I share here:

Approximate locations of areas in photos (10/27/14)

As is my habit on every trip to the Pine Barrens, I always stop along Rte 539 a couple miles south of where the 2007 Warren Grove Fire started to see the Pygmy (Dwarf) Pine Plain Forest. It is always special to see how the Pine Plains have come back after the fire. It is a little hard to see the Pygmy Pines from where I took the photos, but trust me, they are there. You may be able to make them out in the distance. What is always remarkable to me when I see this part of the Forest is that I do not see many dead trees. All is green. Compare this to the article I wrote in March 2009 with photos 15 to 19 months after the Warren Grove Fire, taken from the spot.

Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area, Rte 539, Five minute drive south of start of Warren Grove Fire (10/27/14)

Another favorite spot of mine is Pakim Pond in the Brendon Byrne State Forest, about a fifteen minute drive north of the Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area.

Pakim Pond, September 3 2014

Pakim Pond, October 27, 2014

After lunch, we drove back towards the Brendon Byrne State Forest, and took the road (563) down through Chatsworth driving through the Cranberry Bogs south of Chatsworth.

Cranberry Bogs, south of Chatsworth NJ

Finally, we continued down the road to the Mullica River (which joins the Great Bay north of Atlantic City). The photos below are taken on a drawbridge while the gate was down.