Controlled Burn Slated At Hovnanian Sanctuary Today

It's been nearly a year since bulldozers and chainsaws toppled many of the pines and scrub oaks that studded the Hovnanian Sanctuary off Davenport Road near Holiday Heights.

And the brush and leaf litter left behind have turned dry and brittle, prone to wildfires. That's why the New Jersey State Forest Fire Service will be on hand today conducting a "controlled burn" on about five acres of the property.

"It's all going to be a trial to see if it will actually burn," said state Forest Fire Warden Brian Corvinis. "It will kill the scrub oaks that survived the cut."

The New Jersey Audubon Society last June thinned the pines and overgrowth at the 513-acre Hovnanian Sanctuary as part of a larger project that will reduce fire hazards and create a rare Atlantic white cedar swamp. 

"The fire threat out there is enormous in that section of Berkeley Township," Corvinis said.

The controlled burn on the property will be done in sections over time, he said.

"It's a work in progress," Corvinis said. "It's going to be a scattered project," Corvinis said. "We'll just work along the roadway. I'm not going near the  houses."

Most of the controlled burns in New Jersey the state are finished for the season. The Forest Fire Service will now go into what Corvinis calls "fire suppression" mode.

Some of the mounds of debris will remain, since they serve as snake dens, he said.

"I'm planning on doing five to six acres, just as a test burn," Corvinis said. "I want to make an attempt to see if we can get something to burn. Young ferns, and grasses are the things that will grow back anyway. All it is is a bunch of leaf litter in certain spots."

"The temperatures are going to be just where I want them, in the 60-degree range," he added "The relative humidity is between 30 to 65 percent, light winds."

The Audubon society acquired the sanctuary from K. Hovnanian Homes, which built a number of age-restricted developments in the surrounding area.

The land was not managed previously, in part due to a hands-off policy that prevented any controlled burning on the site, Donald Donnelly, the Audubon Society's Stewardship Project Director of Forestry, has said.

The vegetation became very thick, growing right up to nearby senior communities like Holiday Heights, Donnelly said.

“One of the main goals is to establish a fuel-break in case a fire comes close to the development,” he said last year.

The Audubon Society has three goals for the project: to establish a protective zone from wildfires for the surrounding communities, to restore habitats for plant species threatened by forest overgrowth and the excessive shade such overgrowth creates, and to establish an Atlantic white cedar swamp.

Donnelly estimated that 65 acres were thinned since the project began in late June 2011.

 The New Jersey State Forest Fire Service website says the Pinelands is a fire-adapted ecological community with one of the "most hazardous wildland fuel types in the nation."

"Fuel loadings exceed 20 tons per acre in some locales," according to the website. "This has been equated to having over 1,300 gallons of gasoline per acre. Pinelands fires burn extremely hot and spread rapidly. Crown fires are fairly common, spreading from treetop to treetop, as is long range spotting where flying embers start new fires in advance of the main fire."

The May 2007 Warren Grove fire spread nearly 2.33 miles per hour, or over 200 feet per minute, the website states.

"A potentially explosive combination is created when the factors of hazardous wildland fuels, interface home development, and an increased risk of human caused ignition come together under extreme fire weather conditions," according to the website.