Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

Session K – Wildfire Resilience in Maine’s Forests and Communities

Afternoon Session
Presenters are indicated in bold font.

Session Co-chairs:
David Ludwig, Senior Planner, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry
Kent Nelson, Forest Ranger Specialist, Maine Forest Service

At the 2024 Sustainability & Water Conference, attendees were introduced to wildland fire history, ecology, management, and possible futures in Maine based on climate modeling. We will build on those foundations at the 2025 session while incorporating new topics and updates since the last conference.

In the last year, Maine has been awarded funding for several Community Wildfire Protection Plans. We will provide updates on these projects and lessons learned so far for other communities to build on. We will also review fire activity from 2024. Fueled by drought, between October and the first few weeks of November, nearly 200 wildfires occurred in Maine, which is ten times higher than the average for that time of year. At the same time many fires, ranging from 100 to over 5,000 acres in size, burned across the northeast. We will discuss ways that communities can mitigate wildfire risk. We will also highlight the role that prescribed fire is playing in southern Maine to maintain rare plant communities and wildlife species. We will build on topics introduced last year, providing more details about fuels reduction projects underway in Maine along with more up to date information regarding climate modeling and fire ecology. Finally, we will introduce attendees to biochar and some of its uses as a potential soil amendment and a value-added product that could be derived from vegetation management projects.

Session Schedule

Afternoon Session

• 1:30PM-1:35PM – Introduction and Session Overview | Presenter: David Ludwig
• 1:35M-1:58PM – Potential future changes in wildfire risk in Maine’s forests | Presenter: Andrew Whitman
• 1:58PM-2:21PM – Fire restoration and management in Maine | Presenter: Jon Bailey
• 2:21PM-2:51PM – Afternoon Break
• 2:51PM-3:14PM – Lessons learned from New England’s 2024 wildfire season | Presenter: Kent Nelson
• 3:14PM-3:37PM – Engaging our communities in wildfire protection planning | Presenters: Allen Kratz, Jesse Minor
• 3:37PM-4:00PM – Effects of Biochar in Improving Soil Moisture in Wild Blueberry Fields | Presenter: Swikar Karki

1:30PM – 1:35PM
Introduction and Session Overview 

David Ludwig, Senior Planner, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry

1:35PM – 1:58PM
Potential future changes in wildfire risk in Maine’s forests 

Andrew Whitman, Maine Forest Service, Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, Andrew.whitman@maine.gov

Climate change is increasing forest fire risk everywhere, affecting weather and vegetation patterns.  Increasing air temperatures are projected to contribute to greater drought risk and reductions in soil moisture that can lead to greater fire risk. The backlash effect of climate change can also increase vegetation growth in rainy years, leading to above-average fuel loads in drought years. The dynamics of wildlife in forests are driven by four factors: weather and climate, fuels (i.e., flammable vegetation), ignitions, and human activities (e.g., fire management and land use). In Maine, projections can help explain how these four factors might affect fire risk in Maine.  Climate change is projected to slightly increase the frequency of low soil moisture events and drought and forest fuel flammability. It so is likely to be the most important future fire factor.  Human populations are predicted to increase in some areas of Maine, which may increase ignition rates in areas with past wildfire history. Climate may shift ranges of tree species and forest types leading to local changes in forest composition that change the composition, types, and hence flammability of forest fuels. Large catastrophic fires are unlikely to become much more frequent in Maine. These changing conditions support the need for applying fire risk management strategies that increase wildfire resilience, especially in areas where the extensive wildland-urban interface already creates concern for wildfire.

1:58PM – 2:21PM
Fire restoration and management in Maine 

Jon Bailey, Fire Manager, The Nature Conservancy in Maine. jbailey@tnc.org

Since the first 30-acre prescribed fire in 1991 at the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area; The Nature Conservancy in Maine has been dedicated to a collaborative approach to implementing safe and productive controlled burns also known as prescribed fires. Natural fires have been part of the Maine ecosystems from lightning strikes to Indigenous communities using fire to shape our landscapes for more than a millennium.  Join us on an overview of TNC’s Fire Management Program traveling from Maine’s largest protected sandplain grassland, wounder deep within the majestic globally rare Pitch Pine Barrens to getting your boots wet at Maine’s best example of a northern Domed Bog. Learn why these unique ecosystems are disturbance-based and how good fire can be safely used to balance the health of the landscapes while protecting nearby communities.

2:51PM – 3:14PM
Lessons learned from New England’s 2024 wildfire season 

Kent Nelson, Forest Ranger Specialist, Maine Forest Service. kent.nelson@maine.gov

Due to seasonal droughts, Maine and New England/the Mid-Atlantic Region experienced an increase in wildfire activity in the fall of 2024. Maine recorded nearly 100 wildfires statewide in the month of October. During that same time, several wind-driven wildfires over 100 acres in size occurred in New York, New Jersey, and southern New England. 

Although wildfires are still likely to occur in the future, much of the damage caused by these wildfires could be mitigated through fuel reduction and wildfire prevention education.  Homeowners and community leaders are encouraged to work together to reduce flammable vegetation near residential areas. Creating firebreaks, thinning nearby forested areas and providing brush pile drop off locations are the key to reducing the frequency and intensity of wildfires. 

Wildfire prevention education helps homeowners understand the need to remove, reduce and replace highly flammable vegetation (i.e., softwood trees and shrubs). These softwood trees and shrubs are easily ignited by airborne firebrands from nearby wildfires or structure fires. They, in turn can ignite structures and threaten lives and property.

In 2024, the Maine Forest Service was active with helping several communities complete Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP’s). These regional fire plans help community leaders and Fire Departments work together to reduce to wildfire risk. They also help obtain federal grants for implementing forest fuel reduction projects.  Planning, preparing and working together is what is needed for communities to become more resilient to wildfire.