Broom crowberry habitat preferences in the New Jersey Pinelands

Background/Question/Methods

The purpose of this study was to collect baseline monitoring data and initiate ecological forestry / fire hazard reduction management to conserve extant populations of the state endangered plant broom crowberry (Corema conradii) and restore open-canopy dwarf pine plains habitat, in sites located in a portion of East Plains Natural Area unburned since 1971.  Objectives within the study area were to:  a) sample vegetation and environmental factors within and outside populations to evaluate influences on broom crowberry distribution and to establish monitoring plots; b) conduct surveys of existing populations of broom crowberry; c) update existing distribution maps of broom crowberry populations from Windisch (1998); d) establish photo monitoring points within broom crowberry populations; and e) apply various clear-cutting, slash removal and litter removal methods in several management units, to reduce fuel loads and risk to broom crowberry populations from wildfires and planned prescribed burns, and to allow for future study of various management approaches and effects.

Results/Conclusions

Vegetation analysis indicated that the presence of broom crowberry is negatively correlated with presence of litter, canopy, and ericoid shrubs, lending support to our initial assumption that broom crowberry persists in the open patches produced by fire, as well as offering a mechanistic explanation of broom crowberry's failure to persist after a burned area revegetates. This also seems to suggest that clear-cutting and litter removal would reduce the factors with which broom crowberry is negatively correlated.

The contracted cost per acre for the clearing/silviclultural prescription for this project was insufficient even with seed/cone sales. If this approach proves to be effective in its ecological goals for the broom crowberry populations, we will be looking at other possible cost-reducing measures. We also suggest exploring the possibility that lichen mats may serve as competition-free refugia for broom crowberry.