The work of LIISMA is made possible by the support and cooperation of our many partners. LIISMA recognizes the tremendous efforts of our partners to prevent and rapidly respond to the threat of invasive species. As new species are detected, LIISMA staff and partners work to contain, suppress, or eradicate them before they spread and become a larger problem. One such partner that inspires us to express our gratitude for the hard work they contribute to fostering ecologically resilient communities on Long Island is the Central Pine Barrens Commission (CPBC).
The Central Pine Barrens is Long Island’s most significant wilderness and is the largest remnant of a primarily forested area thought to have once encompassed more than a quarter million acres. It is one of several pine barrens regions in the Northeast, with others located in New Jersey, upstate New York and Cape Cod. The region contains a rich mixture of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, interconnected surface and ground waters, ecologically rare or threatened communities, historic locales, farmlands, and recreational areas. LIISMA maintains a trusted partnership with the CPBC in managing land use within the Central Pine Barrens as a means to protect its vital groundwater and surface water supply, and the region’s vast and significant natural, agricultural, historical, cultural and recreational resources for current and future use.
On December 2, 2022, LIISMA welcomed CPBC as the Partner Spotlight presentation for our closing quarter, hybrid Partner’s Meeting event. The presentation was led by Sabrina Cohn, Ecological Field Specialist with CPBC, detailing updates on the ongoing southern pine beetle (SPB) infestation present within the pine barrens, preventative management techniques such as prescribed fires/burns, other priority invasive species present within the region, and future projects under consideration.
Southern pine beetle is currently at the forefront of the Commission’s concerns, being that there has been significant growth and resurgence of the species within ecologically vulnerable sites such as the Carmans River Watershed, Brookhaven National Lab, Brookhaven State Park, Ridge Conservation Area, Manorville Hills County Park, and Hither Hills State Park. Consistent monitoring is underway via aerial drone, airplane surveying, and ground truthing methodologies. Management of the infestation is being addressed through the process of cutting all infested trees, in addition to buffer trees present in the surrounding area. The Commission is committed to spreading awareness and outreach of this detrimental species infestation through collaborative efforts with key partners through projects such as the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange (NAFSE) SPB Working Group and the SPB Workshop for Land Managers recently held in October 2022.
CPBC aims to address these issues going forward, through preventative management strategies conducted preferably in uninfested areas. These include forest thinning to reduce the density of trees and to dissipate pheromone plumes, vegetation monitoring to measure species diversity and encroachment of invasive species, as well as prescribed fires to reduce understory competition and fuel loads, and to promote pitch pine regeneration. CPBC meets these goals through their collaborative program, the CPBC Interagency Prescribed Fire Management Program, which is a five year contractual program funded by the NYS Environmental Protection Fund through the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. The program goals aim to increase public safety, reduce wildfire risk, improve forest health, strengthen ecosystem resiliency, increase native species diversity, ensure suitable habitat for rare and endangered species, retain species-specific fire adaptations, and to reduce tick abundance and disease proliferation.
Benefits of preventative management include stronger, healthier and less stressed pine trees, reduced competition for resources, and increased pitch production, which is of utmost importance, as it is the trees’ only defense to these infestations. Increased pitch production results in the trees’ ability to produce new shoots rapidly, thus enabling the tree to smother SPB before they can enter the tree. Overall, these preventative techniques result in increased resiliency over time to SPB and other forest pests, by treating the system as a whole, rather than by the individual pests.
In addition to SPB monitoring and management protocols, CPBC is dedicated to maintaining ecosystem resilience within the pine barrens through monitoring and removal of other high priority invasive species, such as caper spurge, miscanthus, and spotted lanternfly. Progress so far in their efforts include: caper spurge being nearly eliminated from two sites, removals and prescribed burns in miscanthus sites, and consistent monitoring and trapping of spotted lanternfly. The Commission is currently mapping populations to inform future management projects. Such projects under consideration include glossy buckthorn and linden viburnum management, as well as phragmites management within coastal plain ponds. CPBC also collaborates with LIISMA regularly in SPB monitoring and miscanthus removal volunteer events.
LIISMA thanks the Central Pine Barrens Commission for the hard work they’ve contributed and in helping us better manage invasive species on Long Island.
(Featured image retrieved from Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission website.)
