The Nature Conservancy and The Trustees of the Reservations will be conducting five controlled burns at ecological restoration sites around the Island this spring.
At a Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission Meeting on Monday, commissioners and staff raised concerns over some provisions of the Dukes County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
Island conservation organizations will be conducting prescribed burns this spring on three different pieces of conservation land. The burns will take place between March 31 and May 31.
The Martha’s Vineyard Prescribed Fire Partnership plans to conduct a controlled burn today, Monday, Nov. 26, at the Long Point Reservation in West Tisbury.
During the burn smoke and the odor of smoke may be noticeable around Edgartown Great Pond and Katama Bay.
The fire team will closely monitor local weather conditions, such as wind and humidity, and make adjustments in the schedule as needed to ensure the safety of both crew members and residents, according to a statement from the Nature Conservancy on behalf of the Martha’s Vineyard Prescribed Fire Partnership.
Edgartown selectmen this week affirmed the use of fire as a land
management tool as long as members of The Nature Conservancy continue to
work closely with the town's fire chief.
Joel R. Carlson, a fire manager for The Nature Conservancy, came
before the selectmen to answer concerns about the risk of setting fires
in wooded areas. The meeting was attended by representatives of the town
conservation commission and the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest.
The smoke may have cleared from the controlled burn performed by the U.S. Navy last Wednesday on Noman’s Land, but questions remain this week as to whether more could have been done to alert the public and prevent the confusion that led to a barrage of calls to the Island communications center.
Officials at the Dukes County communications center last week received between 50 to 100 calls while the fire burned on Noman’s, the small uninhabited island off the southern coast of Chilmark.
