Friday, February 11, 2022

2022 NJ wildfire season: late winter and early spring prescribed burning season underway

 he late winter and early spring prescribed burning season has begun in New Jersey. See this February 9, 2022 press release from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for more information. The press release speaks of the importance of prescribed burning and their tentative plans, highlights are:

There are multiple benefits to prescribed burning, which is a safe, effective and efficient means of managing the buildup of forest fuels. Prescribed burns improve habitat for plants and animals, reduce the presence of damaging insects and ticks, and recycle nutrients into the soil. In addition, prescribed burning is an important part of the state’s carbon defense strategy. Allowing experts to choose the image intensity, timing and interval of fire across the landscape may help prevent a larger uncontrolled wildfire, which would contribute to significant carbon loss. ...

This year, the Forest Fire Service intends to treat 25,000 acres with prescribed fire. Meeting this goal will depend on favorable weather conditions. Most of the Forest Fire Service’s burns will occur on state-owned property such as state forests, parks and Wildlife Management Areas, but the Forest Fire Service also assists private landowners, nonprofit organizations, and county and municipal governments to meet their management objectives through prescribed burning.

As they have in past years, The New Jersey Forest Fire Service (njwildfire.org)  will announce planned prescribed burns on their NJFFS Facebook page. New this year is an online mapping tool where prescribed burns currently underway as well as those planned for the next five days are mapped, this online mapping tool from the NJFFS may be accessed at this page on NJwildfire.

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service has plans to conduct prescribed burning operations in the following areas on February 11, 2022. These prescribed burns are in central and southern New Jersey.

Burlington County 

  • Shamong Township - Wharton State Forest
  • Tabernacle Township - Wharton State Forest 
  • Washington Township - Wharton State Forest 
  • Woodland Township - Brendan T Byrne State Forest 

Cumberland County 

  • Maurice River Township - Peaslee Wildlife Management Area 

Monmouth County 

  • Manalapan Township - Monmouth Battlefield State Park 

Ocean County 

  • Berkeley Township - Double Trouble State Park
  • Lacey Township - Double Trouble State Park
  • Lakewood Township - County & Municipal Property 
  • Jackson Township - Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area
  • Manchester Township - Brendan T. Byrne State Forest 
  • Manchester Township - Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area
  • Manchester Township - Manchester Wildlife Management Area 

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