The Albany Pine Bush Preserve just can't seem to get a break
with the weather. In the last seven years, drought or wet weather
has limited managers of the inland pine barrens to burning a
total of 288 acres, a fraction of the 200 acres each year they
are supposed to set afire since prescribed burning started in
1991. So far, in 2002, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission
has overseen only one seven-acre fire, despite setting aside
387 acres for burning, which the preserve's rare plants and
shrubs need periodically. In the past, natural causes, such
as lightning strikes would start fires in the pine barren about
every 10 years, creating gaps where lupine plants can grow and
helping seeds of pitch pine and scrub oak to establish. "We
have a law...that recognizes that fire is the primary tool to
manage the Pine Bush," said Chris Hawver, executive director
of the Pine Bush Preserve Commission. "But we are at the
mercy of the weather."
The Commission has been sued twice, unsuccessfully, for not
meeting its fire quota. Members of Save the Pine Bush, the advocacy
group that brought the lawsuits, said this week that legal action
isn't out of the question this year. "They should burn
more," said Rezsin Adams, a member. In the meantime, Hawver
said that the Commission would hire a fire management specialist
and work to make more of the preserve safe enough to be set
alight. Currently, 1,850 acres can be managed with fire. The
goal is to set aside 2,000 fire-ready acres by 2017, according
to the Commission's current management plan.
Editors Note: Save the Pine Bush has suggested that more
crews should be in the Pine Bush on any day that it is possible
to burn: instead of one crew, how about four crews burning in
four different areas at the same time?