Pitch pine woodlands are typically associated with coastal areas such as Long Island, New Jersey and Cape Cod. But the diverse Pawcatuck Borderlands landscape contains relatively large examples of this fire-dependent natural community type, home to several uncommon moths and butterflies. In particular, the Wood River Barrens in Exeter and West Greenwich is a roughly 3,000-acre example of a pitch pine/scrub oak (Pinus rigida/Quercus ilicifolia) woodland, one of the largest known examples found this far from the coast. Nicholas Farm contains a 1,500-acre example as well. The Conservancy is working with its state and local partners to learn more about this unique natural community type and to learn about the best management practices needed for its long-term health.

Woodlands dominated by pitch pine tend to be found on extremely well-drained sandy soils. Historically, these somewhat austere communities were called barrens because of the infertile nature of the soils, which were considered too poor, or "barren," to support agriculture. These soils are not only extremely dry but also strongly acidic, which limits the decomposition of organic matter and results in a heavy accumulation of duff (pine needles, leaves, and sticks) on the surface. The combination of dry soils and duff creates the volatile conditions that make pine barrens particularly susceptible to burning.

Although it is well documented that Native Americans regularly set fires to manage the environment, certain fire-prone communities, such as pitch pine barrens, were probably burned periodically by natural wildfires. Rhode Island barrens have likely been subjected to fires for several thousand years. Most recently, research by Gordon Tucker at the Kingston Pine Barrens south of Worden Pond determined that the area had severely burned twice in the last century, in 1905 and 1910, and smaller portions had been burned between 1930 and 1968, the last recorded fire in that area.

Fire maintains these barren communities by arresting ecological succession. It eliminates plants that are intolerant of burning, and at the same time provides optimal conditions for the relatively few species that have developed adaptations to cope with this catastrophic disturbance. Older pitch pines acquire a thick "fireproof" bark, and some of their cones open and release their seed only under the extreme heat of fire. In the understory, scrub oak, a common barrens shrub, resprouts readily from a still viable root system. The seeds of some species, including wild lupine (Lupinus perennis) and sand cherry (Prunus pumila), remain viable in the soil seed bank for many years and germinate quickly after fire. Consequently, after a destructive conflagration has eliminated all competing vegetation, a small group of highly adapted species readily recolonizes the burned site and perpetuates the pine barrens.

Pitch pine communities throughout New England have significantly decreased in acreage during the past several decades because of fire suppression. Today fires are controlled and extinguished as soon as they are discovered because of the danger they pose to nearby residential communities. Without burning, pitch pine barrens change quickly as hardwood trees and other woody species in the understory become established. Sandy openings close in and become unsuitable for wild lupine and other typical plants such as golden heather (Hudsonia ericoides) and bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). Although some land managers have attempted controlled burns to replace those that once occurred naturally, this option is limited in most areas because of the proximity of housing and other development.

The Conservancy is working with its partners to learn about the feasibility of controlled burns in the Borderlands. We hope to bring years of experience using controlled in places like Long Island, Nantucket, the Albany Pine Bush, and the Berkshire-Taconic landscape to the Borderlands for the benefit of land managers and the habitat they oversee.

Thanks to Rick Enser of Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and to the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society for providing much of the information here about the ecology of pitch pine woodlands.