Massabesic Forests & Fire

A Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) is a collaboratively developed document project that prioritizes hazardous fuel reduction treatments to protect at-risk communities and essential infrastructure from wildfire.

The CWPP project area includes the York County, Maine towns of Hollis, Waterboro, Alfred, Lyman, and Kennebunk.

The Massabesic region encompasses a mix of forested and developed lands. The region has large amounts of wildland-urban interface (WUI). The forested lands are a mix of private, state, federal, and conservation ownerships.

Several popular recreation areas are located in the region, including Massabesic Experimental Forest, Kennebunk Plains, Alewives Woods Preserve, Shaker Woods Preserve, and the Shrine Trail, among others.

Wildland-urban interfaces (WUI) are areas where wildlands and human development meet. The project region contains significant WUI and firefighting challenges. The Massabesic Region CWPP project will create safer conditions by reducing fire risks in the region and protecting the surrounding communities. The project will identify priority treatment areas, potential wildfire danger areas, and mitigation strategies.

A hazardous fuel reduction demonstration project is ongoing at the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area managed by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW). The area contains highly volatile fuels adjacent to neighborhoods and is a popular recreational area. MDIFW, with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), conducts prescribed burns and mechanical fuel reduction as part of ongoing management. Continued fuel reduction, firebreak construction, and prescribed fire planning and implementation will occur in strategic locations. Activities will include crown fire reduction on at least 25 areas, mastication, and prescribed fire implementation on 50 acres.

Located centrally within the focus area of this project, the USDA Forest Service (USFS) Massabesic Experimental Forest is a focal location for the CWPP. Due to dense forest conditions, the fire risk in this area is much greater. The partners working together through the CWPP will help revitalize the forest and decrease wildfire risk in the region.

Careful planning will mitigate these risks.

The Massabesic Experimental Forest managers have several considerations when it comes to wildfire:

• Dense forests provide a fuel source for wildfires to spread
• ATV engines spark and can ignite wildfires
• Residential development entwined with the forest is at risk in the event of a wildfire

Closed canopies can be important for some wildlife species, especially in winter, but a continuous forest with closed canopy cover increases wildfire risk. Fire can climb up a tree, often assisted by mid-story branches and snags called ladder fuels. When the fire reaches the top of a tree, it's called a crown fire. A closed canopy, 100% canopy cover, can enable a crown fire to spread more quickly. There are no gaps to jump, just continuous fuel sources. Maintaining gaps in forest canopies is crucial to decreasing the likelihood of crown fires spreading.

In addition to helping prevent fire spread, canopy gaps can promote forest regeneration and habitat for various wildlife species.

The Massabesic Experimental Forest is predominatley even-aged, dense, and has near-complete canopy cover. The forest also has an abundance of snags (dead standing trees), logs, branches, and sticks that fuel fires.

With so much available fuel and continuous canopy cover, an out-of-control wildfire could develop rapidly in a forest like the Massabesic. However, we can create a healthier forest condition by using a combination of mechanical thinning and controlled, low-intensity burns, also known as prescribed fires. These treatments help reduce the forest's vulnerability to wildfire.

ATV riding is a popular recreation activity that allows users to explore trails through the woods. Riders often utilize old logging roads and skid trails throughout a forest. However, accidental fires can start when ATVs spark randomly. Since trails are often narrow, sparks that land in dry brush can start a small fire capable of growing into a large wildfire. When considering the safety of nearby communities, restricting ATV use is an essential tool.

The Waterboro Barrens features a pitch pine-scrub oak woodland. This rare habitat depends on fire to persist. Fire can create ideal conditions for pitch pine and associated species to regenerate. If fires don't occur regularly, this rare habitat would transition into an oak-pine type forest common throughout the region. Many wildlife and plant species depend on these habitats, including several rare species.

The Kennebunk Plains are a unique habitat type. Like the Waterboro Barrens, rare plants and wildlife depend on this habitat to survive. A hazardous fuel reduction project that uses mechanical treatments and prescribed fire is being implemented to maintain this habitat. This project will see 143 acres burned, 27 acres of canopy thinning, and 436 acres both mechanically treated and burned (explore the map below). These burning and thinning activities will ensure habitat conservation needed to sustain a diverse mix of plants and wildlife.

Sandplains and pine barrens host unusual and diverse wildlife communities. Many rare and endangered species of birds, reptiles, and insects make their home in these landscapes. Many are fire-adapted, meaning they use habitat created by frequent, low-intensity fires that maintain their preferred early successional habitat conditions.

Specialized bird species, such as the Grasshopper Sparrow and Upland Sandpiper, found in sandplains depend on large, dry, open grasslands for nesting each season. Controlled burns in pine barrens create bare ground nesting habitat for birds like Whip-poor-wills and Common Nighthawks. The regrowth of scrub oak and gray birch provide habitat for shrub loving birds like Eastern Towhees and Prairie Warblers. The endangered Northern Black Racer snakes require large areas of unfragmented early successional habitat to thrive. Several specialized butterflies and moths use sandplains and pine barrens, including the Edward’s Hairstreak and Broad Sallow.

Without periodic low-intensity controlled burns, the wildlife associated with these rare habitats would not have the habitat they need to survive.

A Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) takes partners coming together. Scoping meetings involve key partners, including fire departments, federal agencies, state agencies, county government, non-profits, wildlife groups, lake associations, large private landowners, and user groups. Many action items for the Massabesic CWPP have developed in preliminary conversations. The plan is developed collaboratively and prioritizes hazardous fuel reduction treatments to protect at-risk communities and essential infrastructure from wildfire.

The project includes the development of a Rural Water Supply Plan, which will be part of the final plan and highlight needs across the project area. The plan will include: a regional water availability/deficit assessment, community goals and strategies, site prioritization, site surveys and engineering assessments at priority sites, and treating and maintenance requirements. In addition, dry hydrants will be installed at three priority sites identified in the plan with 2% drought certification.

The project also includes firefighter training to improve wildland firefighting capabilities in the Massabesic Region. The project area contains wildland-urban and isolated interfaces with limited access and water availability. Training will include a combination of National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) courses and WUI/rural firefighting classes. Local fire departments will also receive 5 rotating seats at the  Maine Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX)  happening in Fall 2022 to build wildland fire skills.

The CWPP's long term investment is in identifying continuing needs; including support for:

• Firefighting, both structural and wildland
• Community education, especially for local residents
• Training and resource sharing with good communication (mutual aid) between fire departments, federal agencies, state agencies, county government, non-profits, wildlife groups, lake associations, large private landowners, and user groups.

The CWPP will prepare people to work together if or when an emergency happens.