{"id":3910,"date":"2022-12-04T19:26:51","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T23:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/?page_id=3910"},"modified":"2025-09-19T19:24:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T23:24:48","slug":"fire-ecology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/?page_id=3910","title":{"rendered":"Fire Ecology"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Jack Pine-Broom Crowberry Barrens<\/strong>.
Bottom right, recently burnt.
Contained in Letter <\/a>to Mayor & Councillors, 2016
highlighting conservation value of
JP\/BC barrens
Click on image for larger version<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Subpages:
\n– Fire Scars & Old Trees<\/a><\/strong>
\n– HRM, NS & OTHER Fire Links<\/strong><\/a>
\n– Surviving a Wildfire while Hiking<\/strong><\/a>
\n– Pine Barrens Lit<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Also on this website:
\n– JP-Crowberry Barrens & Fire Mgmt<\/strong><\/a>
\nPage under Natural History\/Overviews\/Ecology Workshop<\/p>\n

Towards a combined Conservation\/Fire Management Strategy for the Backlands 26Oct2023<\/strong><\/a>
\nPost on this website, Oct 26, 2023. Cites an online presentation on Fires, Conservation and Fire Management in the Halifax Backlands by David Patriquin o Oct 23, 2023, to the NS Wild Flora Society. It can be viewed on YouTube<\/a>, and the slide deck can be downloaded from www.versicolor.ca\/fire<\/a><\/p>\n

Report says 2023 Upper Tantallon wildfire ‘beyond’ Halifax fire service’s capability<\/strong><\/a>
\nJosh Hoffman \u00b7 CBC News Aug 5, 2024.\u00a0 “Review of response to wildfire last year identified 56 opportunities for improvement…The Upper Tantallon wildfire was one of the largest fires recorded in the Halifax Regional Municipality. It consumed more than 900 hectares, forced 16,400 people to evacuate from their homes and destroyed 151 homes.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Walkabout S4E4 – Wildfire<\/strong><\/a> (Video, 24 min)
\n“Andrew Younger\u2019s video on the Backlands and its history and regrowth from the 2009 fire. Excellent narration of the history of the land.” – Cathy Vaughan.\u00a0 Posted on YouTube Apr 12, 2024 Eastlink\/Whalesong Group<\/p>\n

These Halifax-area communities are getting ready for the next wildfire. Should yours be next?<\/strong><\/a>
\nAly Thomson \u00b7 CBC News Aug 27, 2024. “Halifax Fire carrying out community risk assessments in face of climate change”<\/p>\n

Nova Scotia Wildfires<\/strong><\/a>
\nHalifax Examiner. “All our articles and a helpful resource list. Updated regularly” On Apr 8, 2025, 50 articles listed (May 29, 2023 to August 23, 2023)<\/p>\n

A Rare, Fire-Dependent Pine Barrens at the Wildland-Urban Interface of Halifax, Nova Scotia<\/strong><\/a>
\nNick Hill and David Patriquin. 2014. A Rare, Fire-Dependent Pine Barrens at the Wildland-Urban Interface of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Annotated Slideshow presentation to the Wildland Fire Canada 2014 Conference, Halifax, N.S. Oct 6-9, 2014. 12 frames.<\/p>\n

Pages from WLB report on FireEcology<\/strong><\/a>
\n(4.6 MB File) Extracts from Ecological Assessment of the Plant Communities of the Williams Lake Backlands<\/a> (Hill & Patriquin, 2014; 30 MB file)<\/p>\n

Regeneration of Forest and Barrens after the Spryfield Fire of April 30, 2009<\/a><\/strong>
\nPhoto-essay by Richard Beazley and David Patriquin.\u00a0 On April 30\/May 1, 2009, an intense forest fire “cut a swath though Spryfield, Purcell’s Cove and Ferguson’s Cove.” (Chronicle Herald<\/i> May 2, 2009). This set of photos\u00a0 illustrates the regeneration of vegetation over the ensuing 16 months. Related: Forest Regeneration<\/strong><\/a>. Report on the presentation by Richard Beazley and David Patriquin to the Halifax Field Naturalists on Sep 2, 2010, pp 6-10 in the Halifax Field Naturalist #140 (Fall 2010), <\/em>HFN’s newsletter<\/p>\n

Species List for the Purcell\u2019s Cove Conservation Lands: 2012 Update<\/strong><\/a>
\nSubmitted to Nova Scotia Nature Trust Sep. 14, 2012 by Recorders\/Compilers: David Patriquin, Bob McDonald, Burkhard Plache. Inlcudes a list of species with their ocxurrence in sites that burned in 2009 and in sites not burned.<\/p>\n

Golden Heather in flower in the Backlands 30Jun2023<\/strong><\/a>
\nAnd some thoughts about what\u2019s involved in keeping it around<\/em>
\nPost June 30, 2023 by David Patriquin. “In my view, If we want to keep the suite of species associated with our JP-Crowberry barrens around and avoid a recurrence of really massive fires (as in 2009), we need to develop a combined Fire Management\/Conservation strategy for the Backlands. It would be timely to do so given the new attention to such matters following our worst wildfire year provincially and nationally, not yet over.”<\/p>\n

The Biology of Corema conradii: Natural History, Reproduction, and Observations of a Post-fire Seedling Recruitment<\/a><\/strong>
\nMartine et al. 2005 in Northeastern Naturalist 12(3):267-286. PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

Fire-scarred white pines are a reminder that it\u2019s Fire Season \u2013 especially in the Backlands (Halifax, NS) 19May2023<\/strong><\/a>
\nPost May 19, 2023<\/p>\n

Recent fire and fire management in the New Jersey Pine Barrens: a model for the Backlands? 12Jul2022<\/a><\/strong>
\nPost, July 12, 2022.<\/p>\n

New Jersey Cut Back on Prescribed Burns in the Pine Barrens\u2014and Faces a Wildfire That Charred Thousands of of Acres<\/strong><\/a>
\nAnna Mattson Apr 23, 2025 for Inside Climate News “…Beautiful broadleaf deciduous trees that color the Northeast in the fall are tightly packed so that, in less trying times, when the leaves drop they often hold a lot of moisture, according to Erica Smithwick, a professor of geography and ecology at Penn State University.\u00a0 Not so in drier conditions. The leaves are parched for water as they fall and pose an increased fire risk.\u201cIf the leaves are dead and they dry out in the fall and they drop to the ground, all you need is ignition to get it all to burn,\u201d Smithwick said. Burns are meant to clear undergrowth safely and limit wildfire. Last fall, multiple woodland fires<\/a> broke out in the Northeast including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York. In January, firefighters from a coalition of Northeast states met to discuss the increasing unpredictability of rain and drought across the region. Record low rainfall allowed for blazes in October and November north of Boston, in Brooklyn and in Connecticut. On New Jersey\u2019s border with New York, fire scorched 5,000 acres of land<\/a> and one volunteer firefighter died.\u00a0Some experts including Jaclyn Rhoads, executive director at Pinelands Preservation Alliance, suggest that prescribed burning should occur throughout the year. Fire personnel should be planning beyond seasons, she said, and considering month-by-month weather conditions.”<\/small><\/p>\n

Conceptual ecological models for the Long Island pitch pine barrens: implications for managing rare plant communities<\/strong><\/a>
\nMarilyn J Jordan et al., 2003. In Forest Ecology and Management. PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

Fire Effects Information System: Species Reviews<\/strong><\/a>
\nThese “include information on plant, lichen, and wildlife species\u2019 life history, ecology, and relationship to fire. They are available for more than 1,200 species occurring throughout the United States.” Use search tool on home page to lookup a particular species. Reviews for some fire tolerant trees in Backlands:
\n– Pinus banksiana\u00a0 (Jack Pine)<\/a>
\n– Pinus strobus<\/a> (White Pine)
\n– Pinus resinosa <\/a>(Red Pine)
\n– Quercus rubra (Red Oak)<\/a>
\nand this herb:
\n– Hudsonia ericoides<\/a><\/p>\n

The Ecological Role of\u00a0 Fire in Jack Pine Forests<\/strong><\/a>
\nH, CAYFORD AND D.l. McRAE 1983. In The Role of Fire in Circumpolar Ecosystems<\/a>, edited by David A MacLean; Ross Wallace Wein. International Council of Scientific Unions. Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment. Chichester West Sussex ; New York : Published on behalf of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment of the International Council of Scientific Unions by Wiley , 1983<\/p>\n

The forest fires that nature intended<\/strong><\/a>
\nNick Hill & David Patriquin in the Chronicle Herald, NS Naturally series, Mar 28, 2014 (1 page)<\/p>\n

Celebrating broom crowberry<\/strong><\/a>
\nDavid Patriquin. Article in Atlantic Rhodo, may 2014<\/p>\n

Fifty years of wildland fire science in Canada<\/a><\/strong>
\nSean C.P. Coogan et al., Can. J. For. Res. Vol. 51, 2021. PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

Modeling fire susceptibility to delineate wildland-urban interface for municipal-scale risk management<\/a><\/strong>
\nWhitman, E., Rapaport, E., and Sherren, K. 2013. Environ Manag 53:1427\u20131439.
\nCurrent and future wildfire risk in the peri-urban acadian Forest region<\/strong><\/a>.
\nWhitman, E. 2013. Master of Environmental Studies thesis, Dalhousie University.
\nEllen Whitman and colleagues applied a spatially oriented fire modeling approach to examine \u201cFuture Wildfire Risk in the HRM Wildland-Urban Interface Under Climate Change\u201d and \u201cUrban Forests And Hazard Management: Trade-Offs Between Wildfire Risk And Benefits From Trees In The HRM Wildland-Urban Interface\u201d Spryfield and Beaver Bank were used as case study areas.<\/p>\n

Exploring the Widlland-Urban Interface in Halifax NS: Mapping the fire risk in the Eastern Chebucto Peninsula Backlands<\/strong><\/a>
\nESRI Story Map by Sascha Mosky 2021. As a Master of Planning student at Dalhousie University, Sascha examined fire risk in the Eastern Chebucto Peninsula Backlands. Using civic address point data, Sasha created a 4-kilometer buffer around all homes in the backlands. Then, using Ecological Land Classification data, Sasha classified the various ecosystem types found within the backlands according to their relative fire risk. The findings, which showcase the fire risk for homes across the backlands, are displayed in an ESRI Story Map. prepared for Dalhousie University\u2019s Forest Ecology course (taught by Dr. Alana Westwood).<\/p>\n

A study of Northern White Cedar and Jack Pine in Nova Scotia<\/strong><\/a>
\nP. A. Bentley, E. C. Smith. 1962. Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science, Halifax, N. S., 1957\/1958, Vol. 24, 376-398 “Abstract
\nPresents a distribution map of the two species and discusses their ecology and plant-sociological position. Thuja occidentalis occurs mainly on lakeside sites, where it appears to be a post-climax community, and, less commonly, as a pioneer species on old pastures. Pinus banksiana is thought to be a pioneer of burnt sites, particularly on rocky barrens, also possibly part of a physiographic climax on poorly drained clays. It also occurs on old pastures and on well drained clay (where it grows well). Both species grow on highly acid soil, but pH and exchangeable Ca were higher on Thuja sites. There was little difference in exchangeable Mg, and drainage appeared more important than soil in determining their habitats. KEYWORDS: plant ecology \\ Pinus banksiana distribution \\ vegetation types \\ forests \\ Pinus banksiana \\ site requirements \\ soil \\ Thuja occidentalis distribution \\ Thuja occidentalis \\ vegetation types \\ forests \\ Thuja occidentalis \\ soil properties \\ requirements”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Subpages: – Fire Scars & Old Trees – HRM, NS & OTHER Fire Links – Surviving a Wildfire while Hiking – Pine Barrens Lit Also on this website: – JP-Crowberry Barrens & Fire Mgmt Page under Natural History\/Overviews\/Ecology Workshop Towards … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3880,"menu_order":20,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3910","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3910"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8266,"href":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3910\/revisions\/8266"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/backlandscoalition.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}