Pine Barrens

North Atlantic Coastal Plain Pitch Pine Barrens

Macrogroup: Central Oak-Pine your State Natural Heritage Ecologist for more information about this habitat. this about information more for Ecologist Heritage State Natural your Contact based inventory. field for substitute a not data is and current based on distribution a mapmodeled is This

Description: A dry, fire-adapted forest with a variable canopy of pitch pine, a tall-shrub layer dominated by scrub oak, and a low- shrub layer characterized by blueberry and other heaths. Other oaks (scarlet, black, chestnut, white) are also sometimes present. Composition and structure vary with fire frequency. In general, tree oaks are more prevalent in those stands having a longer fire-return interval, while fire frequencies of eight to ten years foster the growth of "pine plains," dwarf pine stands one meter in height. Dwarf-shrubs such as lowbush blueberry, bearberry and golden-heather typify the field layer of pine plains. Scrub oak stands may occur without pine cover, particularly in low-lying areas State Distribution: MA, NJ, NY, RI where cold-air drainage inhibits pine growth.

Total Habitat Acreage: 491,551 Ecological Setting and Natural Processes: Percent Conserved: 46.8% This system favors low-nutrient, deep sandy soils in dry, flat State State GAP 1&2 GAP 3 Unsecured settings on the coastal plain. Historically large occurrences in State Habitat % Acreage (acres) (acres) (acres) southeastern Massachusetts and on Long Island have been NJ 66% 326,469 82,234 86,207 158,029 largely degraded or destroyed, but sizable and relatively MA 21% 101,284 8,984 36,076 56,224 intact examples still exist in New Jersey. Occasional small barrens peripheral to the main distribution occur from NY 12% 60,016 7,303 8,204 44,509 southern Maine to Maryland. RI 1% 3,782 656 284 2,842

Similar Habitat Types: On the coastal plain of New Jersey, the pitch pine lowland system often occurs immediately adjacent to the upland pitch pine barrens system, where the water table is close to the surface. These upland pitch pine barrens are similar in structure and composition to the Northeastern Interior Pine Barrens system, but each system has species not shared by the other. Crosswalk to State Wildlife Action Plans: Crosswalk to State Name Examples: Pitch Pine/Scrub Oak (MA), Upland forests - pitch pine-oak Pitch Pine-Oak Forest/Woodland (MA), Upland Forests - Pitch forest (NJ), Coastal Coniferous Barrens (NY), Pitch Pine Pine-Oak Forest (NJ), Pitch Pine-Scrub Oak Barrens (NY), Communities - Evergreen Forest Pitch Pine/Scrub Oak Pitch Pine Woodland/Barrens (RI) Barren (RI)

55 Places to Visit this Habitat: Habitat Patch Distribution Cape Cod National Seashore | MA 200,000 Myles Standish State Forest | MA Brendan T. Byrne State Forest | NJ 150,000 Wharton State Forest | NJ 100,000 Rocky Point Natural Resource Management Area | NY Acres 50,000 0

Associated Species: Appendix lists scientific names 0 to 1 1 to 5 5 to 10 1000+ BIRDS: brown thrasher, chipping sparrow, common 10 to 100 yellowthroat, eastern towhee, field sparrow, ovenbird, pine 100 to 1000 warbler, prairie warbler, eastern whip-poor-will Patch Size Classes The average patch size for this habitat is 7 acres and the largest single patch is HERPTILES: box turtle, eastern kingsnake, tiger salamander, 6,876 acres. This chart shows the proportion of the habitat that is in each patch-size northern pine snake, northern black racer, northern red-bellied class. cooter, red cornsnake, timber rattlesnake Age Class Distribution INSECTS: comet darner, common sanddragon, cow path tiger 40 beetle, pine woods underwing, spiny oakworm moth, The 30 buckmoth 20 PLANTS: Few-flower Nutrush (Scleria pauciflora), Post Oak 10 (Quercus stellata), Little Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes tuberosa), 0 Northern Blazingstar (Liatris scariosa var. novae-angliae), of Percent Habitat Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Purple Needlegrass 1 to 20 20 to 40 40 to 60 60 to 80 (Aristida purpurascens), Nuttall's Milkwort (Polygala nuttallii) 80 to 100100 to 140 Age (Years)

This chart shows the average age of trees associated with this habitat based on forest Inventory data. For non-forested systems or small habitats the average age is Species of Concern (G1-G4): Appendix lists scientific names influenced by the surroundings. BIRDS: long-eared owl (winter) Predicted Habitat Loss to Development HERPTILES: pine barrens treefrog 480,000 INSECTS: barrens dagger moth, Barrens itame, Blueberry gray, 460,000 Coastal barrens buckmoth, Frosted elfin, Karner blue butterfly, 440,000 Pine barren bluet, Pine barren lycia, Pine barren underwing, Pine 420,000 barren zale, Precious underwing Acreage 400,000 380,000 PLANTS: bicknell's hawthorn (Crataegus bicknellii), broom 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 crowberry (Corema conradii), eastern silvery aster (Symphyotrichum concolor), pine barren gentian (Gentiana Decade autumnalis), pine barrens boneset (Eupatorium resinosum), plymouth gentian (Sabatia kennedyana), sandplain flax (Linum This chart shows the predicted loss of habitat over the next five decades (50,993 intercursum), stiff tick-trefoil (Desmodium obtusum), tall acres) if loss continues at the same rate as 1990-2000. The average rate of loss is 1,020 acres per year. bushclover (Lespedeza stuevei), white-bracted boneset (Eupatorium leucolepis) Habitat Connectedness Index

60 40 20 0 Percent of Percent Habitat 0 to 25 25 to 50 50 to 75 75 to 100 Degree of Fragmentation (0=Highly Fragmented & 100= Highly Connected)

This metric measures how connected or fragmented the land directly surrounding (18 © Kathleen Strakosch Walz (New Jersey Natural Heritage Program) square miles) the habitat is, this the chart shows the proportion of the habitat in each connectedness class.

North Atlantic Coastal Plain Pitch Pine Barrens http://nature.ly/HabitatGuide 56