June 24-27, 2001
Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center
Duluth, Minnesota, USA
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Third North American Forest Ecology Workshop June 24-27, 2001 Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center Duluth, Minnesota, USA |
leave at 6:30 pm (Gunflint trip leaves at 6:00 pm) Monday, June 25, from the harbor side entrance of the DECC Harbor Side Convention Center. Please bring appropriate clothing and footwear, but limit your baggage to what you need for the trip.
WHAT WE’LL SEE: This trip will drop us into the heart of one of the largest actively protected and managed old growth forests in the upper Midwest. Set aside in 1891, most of this 32,000ac mixed pine-hardwood forest was protected from logging and therefore followed a different successional pathway than the surrounding landscape. Mandated to maintain the pine ecosystem, the park is seeking to restore and mimic natural processes through implementing large scale prescribed burns and monitoring forest change. Stops and discussion will focus on these management activities.
LOCATION: Park Rapids, MN
TOPICS: state park management, fire, old growth forests, succession.
PRESENTERS:
Tour Leader: Becky Marty, MN DNR.
Sorry, we had to cancel this trip because of low registration.
Trip 2: Porcupine Mountains
WHAT WE’LL SEE: This trip will be loaded with mud, bugs, rain, streams and very rugged terrain. We will see the largest (35,000 ac) remaining Eastern Hemlock-Sugar Maple virgin forest in the Lake States; 500 yr. old Eastern Hemlock; record sized specimens of Sugar Maple, American Basswood, and Yellow Birch. This is true old growth - never been logged! The stops will be arranged to see all of the developmental stages of this type of virgin forest.
LOCATION: Upper Peninsula, MI
TOPICS: Eastern hemlock – sugar maple forest, old growth forest, succession, record-sized trees
PRESENTERS:
DURATION: Depart 6:30 PM, Monday, June 25. Return by 8:00 PM, Tuesday, June 26. One way travel ~ 5 hours.
Trip 3: Gunflint Blowdown Lowdown
WHAT WE’LL SEE: This tour will examine the effects of blow-down and fuel reduction activity on forest successional pathways and bark and ground beetle communities along the Gunflint Trail in northeastern Minnesota. On July 4, 1999 a windstorm accompanied by heavy rains damaged 150,000 acres of National Forestlands in the Gunflint Corridor of the Superior National Forest and 325,000 acres within the Boundary Waters Canoe and Wilderness Area. We will visit permanent regeneration transects and beetle collection traps in undisturbed, disturbed, and salvaged stands along the Gunflint Trail and discuss land management options across the mosaic of ownerships within this disturbance.
LOCATION: Grand Marais, MN
TOPICS: natural disturbance, regeneration, salvage logging, prescribed fire, mixed northern hardwood-boreal forest, insects.
PRESENTERS:
DURATION: Depart 6:00 PM, Monday, June 25. Return by 8:00 PM, Tuesday, June 26. One way travel ~ 2.5 hours.
Field tours take place Tuesday, June 26 and leave at 8:15 am sharp from the harbor side of the DECC Harbor Side Convention Center. Please wear appropriate clothing and footgear. Please look for signs indicating with which field trip the vehicle is associated to make sure you are going to the right place.
Tour 1: Cloquet Forestry Center
WHAT WE’LL SEE: The Cloquet Forestry Center was established in 1909 and since then has been the principal forestry field station of the University of Minnesota. It serves as a regional and national center for instructional, research and outreach programs. The 3,774 acres of forest include red, white and jack pine forests, spruce-fir, and aspen-birch forest. Lowland forests include black spruce, tamarack, and northern white cedar forest types. Field stops will highlight aspects of understory vegetation dynamics, management of advance regeneration, pine old growth stands, and harvesting issues in riparian areas.
LOCATION: Cloquet, MN
TOPICS: Northern coniferous and mixed-species forests, upland and lowland forests, understory vegetation dynamics, old growth pine, Minnesota’s Voluntary Forest Management Guidelines in riparian areas.
PRESENTERS:
Duration: Depart 8:30 a.m., Return by 5:00 p.m. One way travel time 45 minutes. General Route: South on I-35 to Cloquet
Tour 2: UPM Kymmene Blandin’s Ecological Matrix
WHAT WE’LL SEE: In fall 1999, Blandin Paper became the first U.S. forest products company to be ISO 14001 registered in both the mill and forestry operations and to receive SFI third party verification all at the same time. As a part of the Environmental Management System, Blandin is required to manage its 193,000 acres of forestlands according to the Minnesota Forest Resources Guidelines and ecological standards. Site level habitat typing and landscape planning are used to determine management strategies. On this tour, Blandin's forest ecologist will explain the tools used to do this and Blandin foresters will discuss how this approach has impacted and changed the way they do business.
LOCATION: Grand Rapids, MN
TOPICS: habitat classification, landscape planning, forest certification, Minnesota’s Voluntary Forest Management Guidelines.
PRESENTERS:
DURATION: Depart 8:15 a.m., Return by 5:00 p.m. One way travel time 1.5-2 hours
General Route: West on US Hwy 2 to Warba, East on MN74 to Blandin Feeley Rd then north on Blandin land.
Tour 3: Non-Timber Forest Products
WHAT WE’LL SEE: The Non-Timber Forest Products field trip will visit the University of Minnesota’s Cloquet Forestry Center, about 45 minutes south of Duluth. We will look at and discuss ecology, management and use of some common Northern Minnesota NTFP. We will cover black ash (wood used in basketry), paper birch (bark used in basketry and source of chemicals; sap used for syrup), balsam fir and princess pine (both used in the wreath industry), northern white cedar (extractive oil), maple sap and medicinal and edible plants. There will also be time allotted to enjoying CFC’s fine red pine forests and mosquitoes. Join us for a walk in the northwoods of Minnesota and a discussion of a topic of increasing importance in forest management!
LOCATION: Cloquet, MN
TOPICS: Uses and management of NTFPs, paper birch (bark), black ash, Lycopidium, medicinal plants, balsam fir.
PRESENTERS:
DURATION: Depart 8:15. Return by 5:00 PM. One way travel time 45 minutes. General Route: South on I-35 to Cloquet
Tour 4: North Shore Superior Highlands – Collaborative Forest Management
WHAT WE’LL SEE: This tour will visit a 75,000ac region of the Superior Highlands, which has become the site of the first landscape management collaborative in the state. The goal of the collaborative is to use a cooperative approach to identify a desired future condition for the forest landscape and to implement that vision in a coordinated way. In an area that includes large private, county tax-forfeit and state forest land as well as The Nature Conservancy’s new Upper Manitou Forest property, you will walk through northern hardwood, mixed and sub-boreal forests and see lakes, streams and wetlands characteristic of this glacially formed landscape. Be prepared – bushwacking including!
LOCATION: Lake County, MN
TOPICS: Collaborative management, landscape-level management, northern hardwood / mixed / and sub-boreal forests, glacial landforms.
PRESENTERS:
DURATION: Depart 8:15 am, Return by 5:00 PM. One-way travel time approximately 1.5 hours. General Route: North on Highway 61 along the North Shore of Lake Superior
Tour 5: Potlatch Corporation: Wieck Family Forest
WHAT WE’LL SEE: This tour will visit a former family-owned forest where participants will view and discuss a range of forest management options – from intensive pine management to selective hardwood management to underplanting within managed stands – and include riparian, wildlife and cultural resources issues. The Wieck family spent much time and effort managing the forest over the years and developed a great example of the forest diversity opportunities in this region of Minnesota. Potlatch Corporation purchased the property and now actively manages the site while using the acreage as an educational forest.
LOCATION: Carlton County, MN
Sorry, we had to cancel this tour because of low registration.
This conference is sponsored by: Society of American Foresters, Ecological Society of America, North Central Research Station - USFS, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and University of Minnesota.