Fire Regime

The forests of Morristown National Historical are not fire prone. There are no New Jersey Bureau of Forest Management records of a major forest fire in the area for the past seventy years.

Since 1950, there have been 15 fires in the park: 9 Class "A" (under .25 acres) and 6 Class "B" (.25-10 acres). Lightning caused one of the fires, while the remaining fires were either human-caused or unknown.

The park’s forests are typical Eastern Deciduous Forests that have a relatively low fuel load. Oaks dominate the park’s mature forests and are resistant to fire damage. Other dominant tree species in the park such as Beech and Red Maple are very fire-sensitive and would be eliminated by fire.

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