Crews conduct controlled burns in Green Mountain National Forest

Crews are conducting springtime controlled burns in the Green Mountain National Forest. That includes a 12-acre patch of forest in Ripton, which burned Wednesday, and a section of forest in Pomfret, along the Appalachian Trail.

Forest supervisors use fire almost every year to manage for wildlife habitat — including grassy, open areas and oak forests — as well as supporting plant diversity and making forests more resilient to fires during droughts.

Ryan Hughes, who manages controlled burns for national forests in the region, said fire is a natural part of the landscape.

“We are increasingly burning more and more,” Hughes said. “We’re recognizing that the climate is changing, the forests are changing. We’re seeing more fires. In the past century, we’ve done a really good job of suppressing fires but we do have a history of large fires here in New England.”

His crews just finished burning in the Finger Lakes National Forest in New York. They’re planning to burn between 200 to 600 acres in Vermont this year.

“Fire isn’t always bad, right?” Hughes said. “I feel like we’ve had this idea for the last 150 years that fire is the worst thing that could happen on the forest. And really, fire is a natural process in the forest and there’s a lot of benefits associated with it.”

More from Vermont Public: Can we make Vermont’s forests more like old forests, faster?

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