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| At the top of Candlewood Hill. One pitch pine tree center right is surrounded by chestnut oak and maples and black huckleberry underneath. |
Pitch pine, Pinus rigida, occurs naturally on sandy soil and
ridge tops favoring nutrient poor, dry, and acidic environments where other
species cannot survive. One of the most
drought tolerant of the trees, pitch pine is common throughout Cape Cod and is
the dominant tree of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Yet despite its preference for areas other
species avoid, seeing a large stand of these trees in Connecticut is rare. In
fact, the pitch pine forest has been identified by the Connecticut Department
of Environmental and Energy Protection (CT DEEP) as one of the 13 most
critically endangered ecosystems in Connecticut.
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| Resin oozing from a tree that had fallen over the trail and had to be cut. |
The noun "candlewood" has been used to name all
sorts of places: streets, health spas, mountaintops, and undoubtedly others,
but the word was originally coined to denote any “resinous wood used for
torches or as a substitute for candles.” Pitch pine is
highly resinous which made it valuable as a source of illumination in colonial
times. Colonists used slivers in place of candles and the knots as
torches. In addition to being flammable and useful as lighting, resin could be mixed with other substances or refined, yielding products such as tar, pitch, and turpentine. Across the two-lane highway
from the wildlife management property an aptly named Candlewood Street connects
routes 184 and 117. Could the street be so named because of a former prevalence
of pitch pine in the area?
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| Immature pine cones. It takes two years for the cones to mature. |
Ironically, the tree that served humans as a source of fire
is also one of the most highly evolved to survive it. The thick bark, for
example, (as much as 2 inches thick on a mature tree), insulates the trunk
against fire damage. The bark has another secret too, for underneath the bark lies
dormant, epicormic buds which can sprout should a fire burn away all its
needles. The tree can also regenerate from its basal roots which sink deep into
the soil. And finally, pitch pine’s cones provide what writer Charles Fergus
describes as the tree’s “ace in the hole.” The tree produces some cones that
are serotinous -- sealed from the inside with resin that require heat to open
them. Should a fire kill the tree and its roots, it will also cause the
serotinous cones to split open, scattering the seeds on freshly fire cleared
soil.
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| Epicormic buds. |
And therein lies the fragility of the pitch pine ecosystem.
Although the trees are highly adaptable and can grow almost anywhere if planted
by humans, they require open sunny ground to regenerate from seed. Wildfires,
which would periodically clear an area of underbrush, are now suppressed,
allowing shrubby undergrowth to flourish and more shade tolerant trees to creep
in, crowding out the pine. Currently, within the CHWMA, black huckleberry
provides the understory, blanketing the ridgetop in a near mono-culture,
although it is intermixed with lowbush blueberry and a shadbush here and there,
as well as drought-tolerant bear oak. All these species can regenerate from
underground roots in case of fire. In the absence of it, pitch pine seedlings
are shaded out by other vegetation.
Bear oak, occurring frequently with pitch pine, hosts several
endangered moth species. Pink ladyslipper and wintergreen dot the shaded area
beneath the shrubbery. Many birds of interest including ruffed grouse,
worm-eating warbler, scarlet tanagers, and rufous-sided towhees call this place
home.
Pitch pine-bear oak forests were once common along the sandy
coastal plains of the northeast. Development and fire suppression have degraded pitch pine stands by an estimated 95% in
Connecticut. Candlewood Hill hosts the largest contiguous stand of pitch pine
in the state; yet even here, red and chestnut oak, sassafras, and the black
huckleberry are quickly overtaking the pitch pine. It is hoped that once the
state completes its management plan for the area, DEEP officials will begin
controlled burns to protect this special habitat.
Written by Laurie Gorham
Fergus, Charles. Trees of Pennsylvania and the Northeast.
Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2002
Many thanks to Whitney Adams for sharing his notes and
sources, and to Bruce Fellman for the birds.
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