DEEP plans controlled burns in Windsor, Suffield

Matthew Knox, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·2 min read

Mar. 16—The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is planning to conduct prescribed burns at two local nature sites in the coming weeks.

The department is planning burns within the Matianuck Natural Area Preserve in Windsor and the Suffield Wildlife Management Area.

Burning also will take place at Machimoodus State Park in East Haddam.

The exact dates of the burns will depend on weather and conditions, the department said. The areas where the burning will occur will be closed to the public on those days, and signs will be posted.

Prescribed burns are an important forest management practice that has a variety of uses, such as maintaining grassland and shrubland habitat, maintaining pitch pine sand plain forest, and oak regeneration, according to DEEP.

In Windsor, the department plans to burn a 1.5-acre section of the 3.5-acre grassy sand dune within Matianuck.

The sand plain habitat at Matianuck is one of the last remaining in the state, and a prescribed burn is an effective way to sustain and enhance its value to wildlife, the department said.

In Suffield, prescribed burning will occur in about 50 acres of the management area this year, with another approximately 70 acres to be burned in the future.

DEEP's wildlife division manages the area, with a focus on grassland birds. The prescribed burns will help sustain sand plain grassland habitats in Suffield, which are home to birds such as the upland sandpiper, grasshopper sparrow, eastern meadowlark, and savannah sparrow.

The burn is expected to effect a long-term change in the habitat from woody invasive plants to native warm season grasses. Prescribed fires could become a more frequent occurrence in the area depending on the results this spring, DEEP said.

In East Haddam, DEEP has planned five separate burn sites, totaling 15.5 acres. The goal there is to restore a native, ecologically significant pitch pine and scrub oak ecosystem.

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