NEW RINGGOLD - The state Game Commission will conduct a prescribed burn on 190 acres of State Game Land 217 in West Penn Township on Wednesday.
Originally scheduled for today, the prescribed burn was moved to Wednesday due to high humidity levels.
State Game Land 217 totals 7,647 acres and is located in northern Lehigh, southern Carbon and southern Schuylkill counties. It contains a variety of habitats that are home to many different species of wildlife species. More than 97 percent of this area is forested and 95 percent consists of mixed oak forests.
The prescribed burns will be in two separate areas of the state land, referred to as Bear Rocks Unit 1, 52 acres, and Bear Rocks Unit 2, 138 acres. A test burn will be conducted Wednesday morning to check the fire behavior and smoke dispersion patterns for the day.
According to the Game Commission, the goal of the prescribed fire is to restore conditions that lead to the establishment of the aging oak forest. Currently, there is a large number of birch, sassafras, black gum and red maple seedlings overtopping and shading existing oak seedlings.
If this were to continue, the oak seedlings will eventually die out. A prescribed fire will eliminate many competing seedlings and allow them to grow. It will also allow more sunlight to hit the forest floor, which is necessary for the acorns to sprout. Oak trees are extremely valuable to wildlife, so the failure of these acorns to germinate is a problem.
A thick layer of accumulated leaves has also created an additional barrier on the forest floor, making it difficult for the acorn roots to become established in the soil. A fire will remove much of this leaf layer.
The Game Commission is also planning a prescribed burn for 240 acres in Game Lands 326 in Blythe Township, also referred to as Wolf Creek. The burn window was set for spring and will be narrowed at a later date.
For more information, visit the state Game Commission website at www.pgc.state.pa.us.
