Jack Pine is typically killed by crown fires or by moderate-severity surface fires. Double fire scars are fairly common, but triple fire scars are rare, suggesting that an individual tree may survive only one or two surface fires in a lifetime. Establishment is limited primarily by the depth of organic matter and, therefore, progressively increases with greater fire severity. Regeneration is typically better after summer fires than spring fires Dense, young stands are extremely susceptible to crowning wildfire which is hard to control. Browsed by white-tailed deer, caribou, and snowshoe hare.
Stands provide cover to mammals such as moose and snowshoe hares.
Debris and seedlings in burned stands provide cover for smaller mammals such as red-backed voles. Planted for Christmas trees. Minimum seed bearing age in open stands is 5-10 years. Some seed is produced every year and serotinous cones accumulate in the crown. A mature stand may have as many as 2 million seeds per acre stored in unopened cones.