ECOLOGICAL EXERCISE
Yesterday I spent all morning with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Management (formerly Department of Game and Inland Fisheries) official in our region planning a forest burn for early next spring. The crew and I spent the morning traipsing over Little North Mountain on which much of our farm acreage lies.
Back in 1969 when the agency put together their 33, 697 acre Little North Mountain Wildlife Management Area--WMA (the largest state-managed tract in Virginia) they leaned on my dad really hard to sell our mountain land. "You're going to have children going to college, etc." But Dad held firm and was the only landowner in this area who did not sell.
Consequently, if you look at a map of the area, you'll see our property like a big peninsula extending up into the WMA. They built a road up from Rt. 42 (between Big North and Little North Mountain) that traverses the ridgeline so hunters and loggers have access. Because of our property, the road cannot connect north and south portions so this ridgeline road must go down to Rt. 42 with two additional legs.
This wildlife official plans a 600-plus acre burn in February 2021 as a wildlife enhancement effort. It was almost comical how our first telephone conversation went. He'd never had to get permission from a private landowner to do anything and he was prepared for pushback. He's still trying to figure out his good fortune that not only did I not push back, I leaped for joy at the prospect. That he was not prepared for such a response is the understatement of the century.
These controlled burns are not blazing infernos. They're carefully planned and executed to reduce invasives, reduce mountain laurel and other marginal species while opening up the forest floor to a host of diversified vegetation. The fire also stimulates oak health.
What many folks don't know is that the oak forests of Appalachia are dying. Right now we're seeing a rapid and massive die-off of White Ash due to the emerald ash borer. We have thousands of dead ash trees on our farm. We're trying to cut them as fast as we can before they fall over, but there are a lot of them.
For the last several years, almost every oak tree I cut has a decay spot in the center. They're dying. In 200 years, imagine Appalachia without oaks. Why? Disturbance. No fire, no buffalo, no landscape mosaic. The ecosystem needs periodic disturbance to freshen it up and keep it from stagnation. The worst forest ecology in the mid-Atlantic region is Shenandoah National Park. It's an ecological travesty.
We are touching fewer than 100 acres with our pigs periodically running through the forest. That's a help, but it's hard to cover as much ground as a fire. Wildlife loves fire. Animals return immediately to lick the charred highly mineralized aftermath and even eat the ashes. He said wild turkeys are especially attracted to a burn because it exposes worms and millipedes.
When Governor Tim Kaine came for a visit toward the end of his tenure, he understood immediately the benefits of our forest-run pigs. He asked me how he could help and I suggested letting Polyface rent all the state parks and lands so we could run pigs through them. He laughed and so did I. The radical environmentalists would have a conniption. Wouldn't it be cool to eliminate all the Smithfield (now owned by China) factory pig farms and run them through the forests?
As we drove up the mountain road yesterday, this official loved the savannahs we've created for pig silvo-pastures. When he saw them, he blurted: "That's exactly what I want to create." But the only tool he has is fire. He yearned to duplicate our pig svannahs as a trial on the state land, but realized it would never fly in their protocols. Great hearted; bureaucrat-inhibited.
I'm ecstatic over additional disturbance coming to our forest land to help keep oak trees and wildlife alive.
If the oaks are gone in 200 years, what do you think will replace them?