FIRE MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR MONTAGUE PLAIN WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA Fire Management Plan for Montague Plain Wildlife Management Area prepared for Massachusetts Dept. of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Environmental Law Enforcement Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program Route 135 Westborough, Massachusetts 01581 prepared by Kennedy H. Clark and William A. Patterson III University of Massachusetts Department of Natural Resources Conservation Holdsworth Hall Post Office Box 34210 Amherst, Massachusetts 01003 July, 2003 suggested citation: Clark, K.H. and W.A. Patterson III. 2003. Fire Management Plan for Montague Plain Wildlife Management Area. Department of Natural Resources Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts. 48 pages plus 2 appendices. Fire Management Plan for Montague Plain Wildlife Management Area, July 2003, Page i CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES .....................................................................................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................iv SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................1 PURPOSE OF THE SITE .................................................................................................................. 1 PURPOSE OF THE PLAN................................................................................................................. 1 JUSTIFICATION ............................................................................................................................. 1 SITE DESCRIPTION AND RESOURCES..............................................................................................2 LOCATION.................................................................................................................................... 2 BOUNDARIES................................................................................................................................2 FACILITIES ................................................................................................................................... 2 HISTORICAL, DEMOGRAPHIC, AND ECONOMIC CONTEXT............................................................. 6 LAND USE.................................................................................................................................... 6 Historical Land Use................................................................................................................ 6 Current Land Use ................................................................................................................... 7 PHYSICAL FEATURES ................................................................................................................... 7 Topography............................................................................................................................. 7 Geology................................................................................................................................... 8 Soils......................................................................................................................................... 8 Hydrology ............................................................................................................................... 8 Climate and Weather .............................................................................................................. 9 VEGETATION.............................................................................................................................. 10 Grassland.............................................................................................................................. 10 Pitch Pine Forest .................................................................................................................. 10 Hardwood Forest.................................................................................................................. 12 Mixed Pine-Hardwood Forest .............................................................................................. 12 Scrub Oak Thicket................................................................................................................. 12 Barrens Successional Patterns ............................................................................................. 13 RARE SPECIES AND COMMUNITIES............................................................................................. 13 Pitch Pine - Scrub Oak Community...................................................................................... 13 Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina)............................................................... 14 Barrens Buck Moth (Hemileuca maia) ................................................................................. 14 Spreading Tick Trefoil (Desmodium humifusum)................................................................. 15 HISTORIC RESOURCES................................................................................................................ 16 FIRE HISTORY ............................................................................................................................ 16 FUELS ........................................................................................................................................ 17 Grassland.............................................................................................................................. 17 Pitch Pine Forest .................................................................................................................. 18 Hardwood Forest.................................................................................................................. 19 Mixed Pine-Hardwood Forest .............................................................................................. 19 Fire Management Plan for Montague Plain Wildlife Management Area, July 2003, Page ii Scrub Oak Thicket................................................................................................................. 19 SENSITIVE AREAS ...................................................................................................................... 20 Fire Sensitive Areas .............................................................................................................. 20 Smoke Sensitive Areas...........................................................................................................22 MANAGEMENT ......................................................................................................................................24 FIRE MANAGEMENT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ........................................................................... 24 Goal 1.................................................................................................................................... 24 Goal 2.................................................................................................................................... 25 Goal 3.................................................................................................................................... 26 FIRE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ................................................................................................ 26 Wildfire Control.................................................................................................................... 26 Prescribed Fire Use.............................................................................................................. 33 Mechanical Fuel Reduction .................................................................................................. 34 Cooperative Relationships.................................................................................................... 35 Fire Ecology Research.......................................................................................................... 35 FIRE MANAGEMENT ZONES ....................................................................................................... 36 FMZ 1.................................................................................................................................... 36 FMZ 2.................................................................................................................................... 38 FMZ 3.................................................................................................................................... 40 FMZ 4.................................................................................................................................... 42 FMZ 5.................................................................................................................................... 43 FMP AMENDMENTS, REVIEW, AND REVISION ........................................................................... 45 LITERATURE CITED ............................................................................................................................46