- Pine barrens
Pine barrens, also known as "pine plains", "sand plains", "pinelands", "pine bush", and "pitch pine-scrub oak barrens", occur throughout the northeastern
U.S. fromNew Jersey toMaine (seeAtlantic coastal pine barrens ) as well as theMidwest andCanada . Pine barrens are plant communities that occur on dry, acidic, infertile soils dominated bygrasses ,forb s, lowshrub s, and scatteredtrees ; most extensive barrens occur in large areas of sandyglacial deposit s, includingoutwash plain s, lakebeds, and outwash terraces alongrivers . The most common trees are theJack Pine ,Red Pine ,Pitch Pine ,Blackjack Oak , andScrub Oak ; a scattering of largerOak s is not unusual. Theunderstory is composed of grasses, sedges, and forbs, many of them common in dryprairies . Plants of the heath family, such asblueberries andbearberry , and shrubs such as prairie willow andhazelnut are common. These species have adaptations that permit them to survive or regenerate well after fire. Pine barrens support a number of rare species, includinglepidoptera such as theKarner Blue butterfly ("Lycaeides melissa samuelis") and the barrensbuck moth ("Hemileuca maia"), and plants such as the Sand-plain Gerardia ("Agalinis acuta ").Barrens are dependent on fire to prevent invasion by woody species. In the absence of fire barrens will proceed through successional stages from
savanna to closed-canopyforest . European settlers found extensive areas of open game habitat throughout the East, commonly called "barrens". The American Indians used fire to maintain such areas as rangeland. [cite journal|last=Brown|first=Hutch|date=Summer 2000|title=Wildland Burning by American Indians in Virginia|cite journal|journal=Fire Management Today|publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service|location=Washington, DC|volume=60|issue=3|pages=30] Open barrens are now rare and imperiled globally, as suppression ofwildfire s has allowed woody vegetation to take over in most one-time barrens. InNorth America , barrens exist primarily in the AmericanMidwest and along the east coast.In 1968,
John McPhee published a book, entitled "The Pine Barrens", exploring the history, ecology and geography of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, infused with his own personal memoirs.ee also
*
Atlantic coastal pine barrens
*Eastern savannas of the United States
*List of pine barrens ources
* [http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/landscapes/community/index.asp?mode=group&Type=Barrens Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources]
* [http://www.umass.edu/nrc/nebarrensfuels/ne_barrens/ Map of Northeastern Pitch Pine Barrens]
* [http://www.riwps.org/publications/Newsletter/2002/spring/disturb_text_newsl_spring02.htm Pine Barrens in Rhode Island]
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3845/is_199901/ai_n8828759 Historic and prehistoric changes in the Rome, New York pine barrens. In "Northeastern Naturalist", 1999, by Frank E Kurczewski]
*cite book | title = The pine barrens | author = John McPhee | year = 1968
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.