Following the fire: Resilience and recovery of a jack pine ecosystem after the 2018 Altona Flat Rock wildfire. Presented on Tuesday, August 20th, 2019 by Mark Lesser and Danielle Garneau, Professors of Environmental Science in the Center for Earth and Environmental Science at SUNY- Plattsburgh.
Associated materials:
The 2018 Altona Flat Rock wildfire burned over 500 acres of jack pine barren in northern New York. Here, we present preliminary results on jack pine regeneration following the fire. Additionally, we present results on how the fire has altered wildlife usage, invertebrate community composition, soil carbon storage, and the overall vegetation at the site. Our long-term goal is to track how this sensitive ecosystem returns to its pre-fire state, or conversely enters a new stable state brought on by novel climate conditions and an altered disturbance regime.