Last fall, a spate of fires broke out in drought-stricken forests across New England. One of those fires burned more than 40 acres in Blue Hills Reservation, a popular nature preserve that nudges up against Dedham and Milton.
“I came here after the fire,” recalled John O’Neill, who grew up in Milton and remembers visiting Blue Hills as a toddler more than 60 years ago. “It was quite shocking to see it all really scarred. Just black, no color.”
Since April, O’Neill and more than a dozen other dedicated volunteers have been regularly hiking into Blue Hills to document the species of plants and birds that are returning after their habitat was burned. It’s the first season of a three-year “opportunistic experiment” in partnership with the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation.
“What I think is really cool about this project is the grassroots element of it,” said Ian Kinahan, an ecologist with the department.
After avid local hikers who love Blue Hills reached out, concerned about the area’s recovery, the state saw an opportunity to contribute to an all-too-small body of research on how New England plant life and wildlife returns after hot brush fires.
“It was kind of originally inspired by the public ... requesting that we study the impact of the fire because they were concerned about invasive plants’ return,” Kinahan said. “And they’re the ones that have been collecting all of the plant community data!”
Each volunteer travels to their assigned plots, identifies the plants on their land, and logs those updates in a centralized database for experts like Kinahan to analyze.
These kinds of citizen science studies have gotten easier with smartphones. Jen Klein, the executive director of Friends of the Blue Hills, remembers the years when volunteer-led research would be much more time intensive.
“I’m really feeling old saying that — but before the technology, we would have been out there with clipboards and field guides, training our volunteers on: What are the hundred most likely to be identified species that are out there? And then sending volunteers out with books,” she said.
Now, volunteers rely on an app called iNaturalist to identify the plants.
“[I] get as close as I can, a clear picture,” said John Harrell, who leads volunteer programs with Friends of the Blue Hills. He took his phone and leaned down to point it at one small plant. The app identifies it: a black huckleberry.
“I kind of knew some kind of berry,” he grinned.
So far, the results show a diverse range of plants that have taken root in the burned area. That genetic variety will offer protection to the habitat so that it’s less likely a new invasive species could come in and completely take over.
“The ecosystem there is probably going to be more resilient to the impacts of stressors like climate change and, even in the more immediate future, invasive species,” Kinahan said.
There have been surprises. Kinahan found lots of aspen seedlings, a break from the monotony of white pine in some of the nearby unburned areas.
But he only found one oak seedling — when he’d been expecting “an overwhelming abundance” of them since they’re so common across the rest of the hill. His theory is that the uncontrolled fire burned so hot it killed the acorns buried in the seedbed. That provides an important counterpoint to prior research on forest recovery, which had suggested that oaks would be one of the species that benefited most.
Kinahan even came across an endangered plant species growing in the burned area that had not previously been documented in Blue Hills — though, since it’s a protected species, he says he’s not allowed to share what it is.
When it comes to birds in the area, there’s less excitement, at least for now. Sean Riley, the project’s bird expert who works as a coastal wildlife biologist at DCR, says many of the species they saw this year are common forest birds: Baltimore orioles, red-eyed vireos, scarlet tanagers, wood pewees, rose-breasted grosbeaks, wood thrush and ovenbirds.
“Now, what we would hope would happen in these burn areas: species like whippoorwill and brown thrasher next year,” Riley said.
Both of those species thrive in environments that have burned recently, relying on the types of insects that populate those habitats for food and less-wooded areas to nest. And both bird species are priorities under the state’s wildlife action plan.
Riley says they haven’t analyzed the recording devices left out for much of the summer in the hills — it’s possible the whippoorwills were there and just weren’t spotted.
“As our climate is changing, the Northeast is going to be at increased risk of fire, no doubt,” said Klein with Friends of the Blue Hills. “So it will be interesting to see three years from now what our data looks like — and then to have that baseline going forward, for not only this park but other parks throughout New England.”
Volunteers like O’Neill will hold off on their observations through the colder fall and winter months: They took their last plant photos of the season last week. The band of volunteers will head back out again next spring.
“It’s out in the middle of nowhere, but I’ll do what I can. I’ll do my best and hopefully contribute,” O’Neill said. “I’m excited to help out,” he added. “And it’s pretty easy, too.”
