Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area - Fire Regime

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area by National Parks Service

Typical fire behavior for oak/hickory forest with shrub understory near Blue Mt. Lakes. Bureau of Land Management photo (NJ#2 1986) Regimes are the total pattern of fires in vegetation, over time, that are characteristic of a natural region or ecosystem including variations in ignition, fire intensity, and behavior, fire size, recurrence (or return) intervals, and ecological effects. The majority of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is heavily forested with various eastern hardwood forest types. These forest types are considered to be in what is referred to as Natural Fire Regime 1B. Natural Fire (i.e. caused by lightning)

Natural Fire Regime 1B refers to a forest that has infrequent, low-intensity surface fires with a recurrence (or return) interval of more than 25 years. Most of these fires are usually small in area. While natural fires once played a variety of roles in the natural ecosystems that existed in this area prior to the arrival of the Native Americans, historical evidence indicates that since the arrival of the Native Americans, and up to and including the present time, the vast majority of wildland fires in this area (and in the eastern United States) have been caused by people. These person-caused fires have, in turn, had their own profound effect on these various ecosystems.