Take a Hike with Ken Kindler

I substituted as the leader for the "Pine Barrens in Spring" hike last Sunday. We met at the Trails Information Center located in Manorville - a very short distance north of exit 70 on Route 111.

If you are new to hiking, call the hike leader before the hike for some guidance on how to properly prepare, or visit the FYI page on the Hiking Long Island website (www.hike-li.org). Several of the new hikers participating in this event wore black pants, so they probably didn't notice when they picked up ticks on the trail. One hiker had low cut socks and another was wearing shorts so they couldn't tuck their pants into their socks. Several hikers didn't wear hats. A hat will keep the sun and sweat out of your eyes and insects out of your hair. The one thing you must always take on a hike is water. On longer hikes, it is also important to bring along some food for an energy boost and to replenish your electrolytes.

We started our hike on the 0.75-mile Wampmissic Loop Trail behind the Center. The surface of this trail is hardened and the grade has been improved to make it more accessible to the physically challenged. There are benches where you can rest along this trail and a picnic table in a grove of white pines. This is a very pretty, peaceful place to visit, and if you stay on this wide trail, you are safe from ticks. The trail is marked with red, blue, and yellow blazes; we followed the yellow blazes to Mill Road. We cut straight across the road and followed the white blazes of the Paumanok Path in a westerly direction to Grassy and Sandy Ponds. Between Wading River Manor Road and Shultz Road, we encountered a lot of tall grass and brush closing in on the trail and began to pick up a lot of ticks. Until this trail is better maintained, you should only walk to Wading River Manor Road and turn around, or just stay on the Wampmissic Loop Trail.

Last week, I promised to relate the story of the origins of the new trail in the Dwarf Pine Plains in Westhampton. I'll start off with some background information.

The Pine Barrens, also known as "pine plains," or "pitch pine-scrub oak barrens," occur throughout the northeastern U.S. from New Jersey to Maine as well as the Midwest and Canada. Pine Barrens plant communities occur on dry, acidic, infertile soils, in areas of sandy glacial deposits. The most common trees in the Pine Barrens located in the center of Long Island, are the Pitch Pine, Scrub Oak and larger oaks. These species have adaptations that permit them to survive or regenerate well after fire. This region sits atop vast unpolluted aquifers, Long Island's soul source of drinking water, making this tract of land an essential resource.

The Pine Barrens dries out quickly after a rain. The soil is sandy, therefore porous, and well-drained and organic matter breaks down slowly in the acidic soil making the soil nutrient poor. Dry pine needles and oak leaves along with other organic matter accumulate on the ground, and ignite easily. Many of the plant species in the Pine Barrens actually require fire in order to reproduce. Fires may be of high intensity and spread rapidly, killing off many of the non-fire-adapted invasive woody species. In the absence of fire, barrens will proceed through successional stages from savanna to closed-canopy forest.

The Dwarf Pine Plains of Westhampton is characterized by Scrub Oak and Dwarf Pitch Pine, without the canopy cover of the larger oaks. Most of the Dwarf Pitch Pines have serotinous cones that are covered with a resin that must be melted by fire to open and release their seeds. In this way they are more fire-adapted than their taller cousins whose cones open when mature. Historically, fire has been more frequent in the Dwarf Pine Plains than other parts of the Long Island Pine Barrens. High accumulations of standing dead shrubs contribute to intense fires. The intertwined Scrub Oak, Dwarf Pines, huckleberry, blueberry and bearberry trees form a dense and continuous cover of fuel. Open barrens are now rare and imperiled globally. Suppression of wildfires has allowed woody vegetation to take over in most one-time barrens, and the continued accumulation of fuel has led to a greater risk of uncontrollable wildfires like the Sunrise fires of 1995. (To be continued next week).

Ken Kindler is a Trails and Open Space Advocate working to help the trails groups and land managers care for our "Natural Island." If you would like to learn more about our trails or help care for them, visit the Hiking Long Island website at www.hike-li.org

Back to Contents