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Long Island barrens to Adirondack camps
Two fire forests. One landscaping sheet. Central Pine Barrens Commission: more than 800 brush fires a year in Suffolk County, most in the Central Pine Barrens. Pitch pine has thick bark and sprouts from under the bark after fire. 106,000 acres. NYSDEC FIREWISE NY: keep everything within 30 feet lean, clean and green. Within five feet, non-flammable materials (rock, pavers). Keep flammable conifers about 30 feet between crowns. Avoid building on hills and the edge of ridgetops. Pinus rigida currently computes as avoid and includes NY. Abies balsamea currently computes as avoid and includes NY.
You are in Rocky Point with pitch pine against the deck, or in a ridgetop camp with balsam screening the lean-to, and treating both as “New York native, so fine.” DEC’s sheet is one page for both. The Commission’s 800-fire sentence is Long Island’s.
This is not a New York doorway.
Why it matters
“One state” is easy to hear as one planting rule. The opened Commission guide is a fire-adapted barrens next to WUI. The opened DEC page is statewide 30-foot lean-clean-green, including ridgetops. The Pine Barrens are a fire forest next to the house is New Jersey’s CMP 30/75/100. This page is New York’s two geographies. Zone 0 is still not a planting list.
This site’s New York plant evidence currently holds 715 occurrence records and 37 exact owners from Dibble, White, and Lebow’s 2007 cone-calorimeter study. The authors collected foliage and twigs across New York and four other states, then dried and conditioned the samples before testing. That is useful regional laboratory context—not proof that every taxon was collected in New York, whole-plant behavior, or a DEC planting table. DEC tells you to ask a ranger or nursery.
How it works
Long Island (Commission):
- 106,000 acres. Largest remaining natural area on Long Island. Sole-source aquifer.
- 800+ Suffolk brush fires a year, most in the Barrens. Usually controlled. Can run.
- Seasons: March to early June, and July through October.
- Large fires generally west to east. Sea-breeze shifts.
- Pitch pine: thick bark, sprouts after fire. Fire-adapted vegetation.
- HIZ: 0–5, 5–30, 30–100 (or the property line). Embers more than a mile.
- No fireproof plant.
Statewide (DEC FIREWISE NY):
- 0–30 feet: lean, clean, green. Well-irrigated. Attachments (decks, fences, boardwalks) count as the house. Perimeter 30 feet beyond those.
- Five feet: rock, pavers, annuals and high-moisture perennials. Non-flammable materials.
- Conifers: about 30 feet between crowns. Prune 6–10 feet.
- 30–100: mixture of deciduous and coniferous. Most deciduous trees do not support intense fires. Fuel breaks: driveways, gravel, lawns. 30 feet between clusters, or 20 feet between individual trees.
- 100–200 (high hazard): thin; remove smaller conifers between taller trees; canopies not touching. Ask the ranger.
- Construction: avoid hills and ridgetops. Fire travels uphill.
This directory:
- New York: 715 occurrence records. 416 on-list, 73 avoid, 21 conflict, 205 candidate. 37 owners also carry the bounded multi-state laboratory source.
- Pinus rigida avoid, consensus, NY.
- Pinus strobus avoid, consensus, NY.
- Abies balsamea avoid, NY.
- Picea rubens avoid, NY.
- Kalmia latifolia avoid, NY.
- Quercus alba on-list, NY.
- Betula papyrifera on-list, NY.
The paths
| Claim | Opened source | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| 800 brush fires a year | Commission, Suffolk | An Adirondack count |
| Pitch pine sprouts after fire | Commission | A five-foot planting |
| 30-foot lean, clean, green | DEC statewide | A Long Island exemption |
| Five-foot non-flammable | DEC | A pitch-pine mulch bed |
| 30 feet between conifer crowns | DEC | Balsam as a camp hedge |
| Mix deciduous 30–100 | DEC | On-list oak in Zone 0 |
| Ridgetops | DEC construction tip | A separate Adirondack plant list |
| 715 New York occurrence records | Stored range evidence | A DEC species table |
| 37 Dibble source owners | Conditioned foliage-and-twig lab context across five states | Whole-plant or New York planting guidance |
What people mix up
- Long Island’s fire-adapted barrens with an Adirondack balsam screen.
- Sprouting after fire with on-list at the house.
- New Jersey’s 30/75/100 CMP with New York’s 30-foot lean-clean-green.
- Massachusetts Plymouth pitch pine with Suffolk’s 800 fires.
- DEC’s ask the ranger with a printed New York plant list. There isn’t one on the opened page.
- On-list oak or birch with the five-foot band.
- Maine 1947 with DEC’s ridgetop sentence.
How to check
- Open the Commission homeowners PDF. Read 800. Read pitch pine sprouting.
- Open FIREWISE NY. Read five feet. Read 30 feet between crowns. Read ridgetops.
- Open Pinus rigida and Abies balsamea.
- Open New York plant evidence. Keep occurrence separate from the 37 bounded laboratory owners; neither is a ranger visit.
- Do not plant in Zone 0.
Limits
This page quotes opened DEC FIREWISE NY HTML (brochure PDF downloaded as a twin), the opened Central Pine Barrens Commission homeowners PDF, and the official USDA-hosted Dibble 2007 article. It does not invent a separate Adirondack species table or an Adirondack annual-acre figure; the opened DEC page is statewide. The 715 and 37 counts are stored relationships, not DEC statistics. The Dibble footprint does not mean every taxon was sampled in New York. The 800 figure is Suffolk brush fires as the Commission printed it, not a 2026 recount. Zone 0 is not a planting list.
Related records
- Pinus rigida
- Abies balsamea
- New York plant evidence
- The Pine Barrens are a fire forest next to the house
- What Plymouth-area yards should know
- Glossary: Zone 0
Questions
Does one New York state have two fire stories for the yard?
Yes, and the opened sources do not merge them. Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission: more than 800 brush fires occur in Suffolk County every year, most in the Central Pine Barrens. Pitch pine, a dominant tree, has thick bark and sprouts from under the bark plates after fire. The region is 106,000 acres. NYSDEC FIREWISE NY is a statewide homeowners page: keep everything within 30 feet of the home lean, clean and green; within five feet use non-flammable landscaping materials such as rock and pavers; keep flammable conifer trees about 30 feet between crowns. Avoid building on hills and the edge of ridgetops. Pinus rigida currently computes as avoid and includes NY. Abies balsamea currently computes as avoid and includes NY.
Is sprouting pitch pine a foundation tree?
No. Forest fire-adapted is not on-list at the wall. The Commission’s Home Ignition Zone starts at 0 to 5 feet. DEC’s five-foot sentence is non-flammable materials. This directory’s Pinus rigida is avoid.
Does DEC print a different plant table for the Adirondacks?
Not on the opened FIREWISE NY homeowners page. It is one statewide sheet. It tells you to check with your local forest ranger or fire department to determine if your home is in a high fire hazard area, and it names ridgetops as a construction problem because fire travels uphill more quickly. It does not print a separate Adirondack species list.
Is this a New York doorway page?
No. The object is two geographies under one DEC landscaping sheet versus Long Island’s 800-fire fact. Place claims sit on whereThisDiffers. The New York plant surface combines 715 occurrence records with 37 owners from a multi-state USDA Forest Service cone-calorimeter study. Those laboratory rows are regional context, not a DEC planting table.