JACKSON – Representatives of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service conducted a controlled burn on property at Jackson Liberty High School in Jackson on March 23 as 34 students looked on and learned why the action was being taken.
A controlled burn involves setting planned fires to maintain the health of a forest. Materials that are consumed in a controlled burn include dead leaves, dead trees, dead grass, fallen tree branches and thick undergrowth.
Students in Mary Russo’s Advanced Placement Biology class and students in Ted Werner’s Advanced Placement Environmental Science class left their rooms to observe the controlled burn.
Principal Geoff Brignola explained that the biology students “are collecting ants and getting DNA from them and then barcoding, which is basically trying to find the genome of the ants.
“With this controlled burn, the students are going to look at DNA from ants that have been in an area that has not been burned and compare that to ants that may have been in the areas that have been burned.
“This is giving the students a chance to actually do science … they are learning about different ecosystems and how those ecosystems are affected by burns.
“The students will study different fauna that was in an area, maybe before and after (the burn). They will study insects and animal life that was in an area before and after the burn,” the principal said.
The students in the AP Biology class will focus on the ant DNA research and the students in the AP Environmental Science class will focus on soil sampling.
Brignola said the students had an opportunity to learn outside the classroom, while the representatives from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service had a chance to practice setting a controlled burn.
The outdoor lesson “let our students see what (a controlled burn) is all about, as well as being able to do science in real life,” he said.
Deale Carey of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said the firefighters use a torch with gasoline to light a controlled burn. He said he expects to conduct 20 controlled burns during the year.
Controlled burns “reduce the risk of a wildfire and reduce the amount of fuel in the woods. We have a time restraint, it is only done in the spring and in the winter,” Carey said.
