NJ DEP to Receive Nearly $1 Million Grant to Reduce Wildfire Risk Around Military Installations

The U.S. Department of Defense has granted the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection $995,000 to reduce the risk of wildfires in the areas surrounding Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Warren Grove Range, Naval Weapons Station Earle, and Sea Girt National Guard Training Facility. Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette made the announcement on Tuesday, as part of the DOD's 2023 Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Challenge Program.

The REPI program facilitates long-term partnerships that aim to improve resilience to climate change, preserve habitats and natural resources, and promote sustainable land uses near military installations and ranges. The $24 million in funding from this grant round will be used to construct a strategic firebreak adjacent to the Warren Grove Gunnery Range in Bass River State Forest. Project work is expected to begin in April 2023.

The firebreak work will consist of reducing hazardous forest fuels on a strategic strip of land in Bass River Township, Burlington County, and Egg Harbor Township, Ocean County. By reducing the forest fuels, firefighters may more safely control the forward progress of wildfires that may start in this area. The firebreak will also provide improved access to fight any fires that may occur in the area.

In addition, the forest thinning on 1,305 acres will reduce combustible vegetation known as ladder fuels and improve wildlife habitat. Ladder fuels are small trees and low vegetation beneath the forest canopy. Thinning allows for a healthier forest, reduces competition among trees, and provides greater resource availability; the likelihood of a catastrophic wildfire burning through a thinned forest is reduced.

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service responded to 1,175 wildfires that burned 12,664 acres in 2022. Dry weather conditions and dense accumulations of forest undergrowth, which fuel wildfires, have been cited as contributing factors. When a wildfire encroaches on a military installation, operations at the properties must be suspended, impacting various base and range activities and missions. The 2019 Spring Hill Wildfire burned 9,021 acres just north of the Warren Grove Gunnery Range in Bass River and Penn State Forest in similar forest fuel conditions. This fire highlighted the potential of a major wildfire threatening surrounding communities and military installations.

The ongoing Greenwood Triangle Forest Fuels Maintenance Project in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest and Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management area will also receive REPI funding. This project entails firebreak maintenance and underbrush removal to protect residents in Burlington and Ocean counties and to create safe conditions for firefighters during wildfire suppression efforts.

The REPI Challenge Program has funded 13 projects nationally, benefiting 26 installations and their communities across the country. In addition to New Jersey, the DOD is funding projects in Guam, Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, California, Washington, and Virginia. To date, the REPI Challenge Program has leveraged more than $144 million with more than $417 million in partner contributions to protect more than 51 locations.

The Warren Grove Gunnery Range is one of the most heavily used Air National Guard training ranges in the United States, and its location provides operational capabilities for all branches of military service. Naval Weapons Station Earle operates a receipts, storage, segregation and issue ordnance facility to support the Atlantic fleet, which includes the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and DOD conventional ammunition requirements.

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