The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection plans to conduct prescribed (or controlled) burns at a pair of prominent eastern Connecticut areas this spring, weather and conditions permitting. The areas include Goodwin State Forest in Hampton and Mansfield Hollow State Park in Mansfield. Prescribed burns are an important land management practice, and the DEEP plans and administers controlled burns annually for various purposes, DEEP officials said.
“Controlled burning is a valuable tool for maintaining healthy habitats and diverse vegetation,” they added. For example, it helps maintain grassland and shrubland habitat for species that are declining in Connecticut due to a loss of farmland and early successional habitat, helps maintain pitch pine sand plain forest (one of the state’s most “imperiled” ecosystems), and can assist with forestry objectives such as oak regeneration, DEEP officials said.
