New Jersey § 13:9-44

§ 13:9-44.

The Legislature finds and declares that prescribed burning is a public safety tool

the primary purpose of which is to reduce the danger of uncontrolled wildfire; that

it is also a resource protection and land management technique which benefits forests

and other natural resources, the environment, and the economy of the State; that

prescribed burning reduces naturally occurring vegetative fuels within forested areas

and other types of ecosystems, and thereby lessens the risk and severity of major

wildfire and the possible resulting loss of life and property; that New Jersey's

changing population places suburban development directly adjacent to fire-prone lands;

and that the use of prescribed burning to manage wildland fire fuels in those interface

areas would substantially reduce the threat of damaging wildfire in suburban communities. The Legislature further finds and declares that forested land, agricultural land,

grassland, coastal marshland, and other open lands constitute significant economic,

biological, and aesthetic resources of Statewide importance; that the ecology of

the Pine Barrens region in particular requires periodic fire for maintenance of ecological

integrity; that proper prescribed burning on those lands serves to reduce hazardous

accumulations of wildland fire fuels, prepares sites for both natural and artificial

forest regeneration, improves wildlife habitat, controls insects and disease, and

perpetuates fire dependent ecosystems; and that proper application of prescribed

burning is essential to the existence, continuation, restoration, and management of

many plant and animal communities, and the resulting vegetative growth benefits rare,

threatened, and endangered species, songbirds, and other game and nongame species. The Legislature also finds and declares that as New Jersey's population continues

to grow, pressures from liability issues and smoke nuisance complaints cause prescribed

burn practitioners to limit prescribed burn activity, thereby reducing the above described

benefits of these burns to the State; and that public misunderstanding of the benefits

of prescribed burning to the ecological and economic welfare of the State inhibits

full use of this valuable resource management tool. The Legislature therefore determines that it is the purpose of this act to authorize

and promote the continued use of prescribed burning for public safety, wildfire control,

and ecological, silvicultural, agricultural, and natural resource management purposes;

that it is appropriate and useful to allow prescribed burning, as authorized by this

act, under all other State laws and regulations and exempt from all local laws and

regulations prohibiting open burning or the burning of forests and other types of

ecosystems; and that prescribed burning of wildland fire fuels is to be considered

an acceptable practice of a landowner.