Fire-Adapted Ecosystems

Across the nation there are several different types of ecosystems that are fire-adapted – they depend on periodic fires. Fires promote plant and wildlife diversity as well as burning away the amassed live and dead plant material. We will obviously focus on the ones in Pennsylvania, but here are the types in other regions of the United States:

• Ponderosa Pine (Northwest and Intermountain West)
• Chaparral (Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of the Rocky Mountains)
• Lodgepole Pine Communities (Rocky Mountains)
• Boreal Forest and Tundra (Alaska)
• Midwest Prairie (Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and the Ohio Valley)
• Jack Pine Communities (Great Lakes Region)
• Southern Pine Communities (Texas east to Florida and north to Maryland)

There are two ecosystems in Pennsylvania:

Pitch Pine Barrens

Range for the Pitch Pine, which can have the pitch pine barrens ecosystem

This ecosystem is pretty common in the northeastern states, especially in areas with sandy soils, on average natural fires will occur in the barrens every 6-25 years. One characteristic of these fires is that they tend to be severe crown fires that are pushed by the wind from treetop to treetop. The main species that makes up this ecosystem is the Pitch Pine, which has this thick bark that protects it from heat and makes it so it can sprout back after a fire. These trees also reproduce with serotinous cones, which are cones that are opened by fire. The barrens are often home to many different rare plants, insects, turtles, and frogs – some of which require fire to shape their habitat or to be able to survive the competition from other animals. If there are extended periods of time where there are no fires in the barrens, large amounts of dead wood and pine needles can accumulate making the next fire possibly too severe for the pines and other organisms to survive.

Oak-Hickory Forests

Bet you can’t walk outside without seeing an oak tree in Pennsylvania (or at least the eastern half)! That’s because this is one of the most common ecosystems in Pennsylvania, as well as West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and many, many other states. Natural fires tend to occur in Oak-Hickory forests every 25 years or less. Native Americans burned some of these forests regularly, possibly even every year or two. Like Pitch Pine, most of our oaks have thick bark which allows them to survive surface fires – plus oaks and hickories both sprout from the base of the trunk after a fire burns through the area. Fires in this ecosystem remove shade and deep litter packs on the forest floor, which creates some of the best conditions for these trees to reproduce. You see, oaks and hickories are shade intolerant (they won’t grow well is shady conditions) so if they are in an area where the forest doesn’t burn for a long time, they could easily be overtopped by more shade-tolerant species.

Take time to remember that when fires burn at the appropriate intervals for their ecosystems it can trigger the rebirth of forests, eventually helping to maintain our native plant life.

“Fire managers can reintroduce fire into fire-dependent ecosystems with prescribed fire. Under specific, controlled conditions, the beneficial effects of natural fire can be recreated, fuel buildup can be reduced, and we can prevent the catastrophic losses of uncontrolled, unwanted wildfire.

Regardless of the benefits of occasional natural fires under specific conditions, remember Smokey's ABCs: Always Be Careful with Fire. Smokey wants you to be responsible when you use fire. It is still wrong and irresponsible to play with matches, throw lighted cigarettes away, or use equipment without proper spark arrestors, or leave any kind of fire unattended.”

Some of the other ecosystems are pretty interesting to read about, but since they don’t apply to Pennsylvania, we won’t be including them here. However, if you want to read more please feel free to click here to go to the Smokey Bear website and learn more!