A Rare, Fire-Dependent Pine Barrens at the Wildland-Urban Interface of Halifax, Nova Scotia

• Main Authors: Hill, Nick, Patriquin, David
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Williams Lake; Crowberry
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10222/74068

SUMMARY Given the appropriate geology and climate, fire barrens of high ecological integrity require space and fire, making them increasingly threatened systems. The Purcell's Cove Backlands (PCB), approximately 1350 ha on the Halifax south mainland, are an area of rough terrain with shallow soils and outcroppings of hard rock that have remained without roads or significant settlement except at their periphery until recently. There are many trails and several lakes are popular for swimming. There are frequent fires. The 2009 "Spryfield Fire" covered 800 ha and destroyed eight houses on a street recently developed in an area of Jack Pines. In 2013, we surveyed plant communities and wetlands of the Williams Lake Backlands which cover approximately 200 ha within the PCB.* The fire dependent/fire adapted nature of plant species in seven upland vegetation types and carbon dating of charcoal from a Jack Pine Tussock Sedge fen indicate that fires within PCB are part of a long-term fire regime that predates European settlement. One result is the presence of a fire-dependent Jack Pine/Broom Crowberry Barrens community that is nationally unique to Nova Scotia and globally rare. The recent frequency of fire in the PCB appears sufficient to maintain this community. However settlement that impinges on Jack Pine/Broom Crowberry Barrens has involved either their complete destruction or subjected residents to highly elevated fire risk. No further development within the PCB would help to reduce fire threats to habitations, conserve a rare pine barrens and provide several other significant social and ecological benefits.