Bob: I saw that 130 foot red spruce during the conference in 1994--can't believe it was that long ago.
Regarding your questions: In MN and WI, inventories have been done and most existing old growth is known and reserved in some way. We have an old-growth reserve system in MN with about 48,000 acres in it, all on state owned land. It was intended to provide examples of old growth for all forest types and ecological regions of the state. Most of this is administrative, but at a high level, by declaration of the governor. It would be very hard to reverse. About 30 or 40% of the old-growth stands are also within state parks or natural areas and have a higher statutory level of protection. We also have several hundred thousand acres of other primary forest, much of which is old growth, in designated wilderness (Boundary Waters Canoe Area), or in parks, private preserves, or dwarf forest. Old growth issues are regularly discussed and planned for at the administrative level at the headquarters within the Department of Natural Resources. In field offices, awareness and attitude vary a lot, with some who think old growth is a waste and know almost nothing and others extremely interested in it. The national forest staff in our region have plans for protecting old growth, or in some cases creating secondary old growth because there is almost no primary old growth left. On the vast Superior NF, which is almost the size of MA, there is a lot of old growth within the wilderness, and they don't think it necessary to have additional old growth elsewhere. Chippewa and Chequamegon-Nicollet National Forests have almost no true old growth,but they have either wilderness areas that will approach old growth status in a few decades or special management zones where forest will be allowed to get older than on the rest of the landscape, with some sort of minimal selection harvest taking place. Some of these are quite large, as much as 20,000 acres. Lee [email protected] wrote: > Lee, > > Over the next few weeks, I plan to photograph more of areas of native > red pine habitat in Massachusetts. Ill send pictures and will be > interested to see if you continue to observe habitat parallels to > areas in Minnesota. > Here in Massachusetts, the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species > Program is probably aware of 90%(I'm guessing) of the natural > occurrences of red pine in Massachusetts, but they don't make that > information available to the general public for obvious reasons. At > one point I knew more than they did. I shared all the places I knew > with them, but I think that they've since picked up data on outlier > red pine communities that I haven't seen. > With returned mobility of movement, I plan to get to as many places as > possible to photograph, measure, and document our forest treasures > here in Massachusetts - with a concentration on individual trees, of > course. > In pursuit of that mission, tomorrow, Monica and I go to visit the > champion red spruce (height-wise) on Mount Greylock. I haven't seen > the tree in at least 3 growing seasons - actually 4, I think. I have > high expectations for it. I'm hoping for 135 feet. > If you recall the Williamstown conference and our field trip into the > Greylock Hopper, where the spruce grows, was where you and I first > met. You picked out old fire signs in an oak stand on Greylock for me. > That occurred in 1994 at the second old growth forest conference in > our continuing Eastern Ancient Forest Conference Series. If you > recall, we also held a concurrent old growth forest definitions > symposium at Harvard Forest and again in 1998. > One of the local objectives of that second conference was to involve > the then Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management (DEM) > and introduce its resource people to the thinking of ecologists and > other scientists doing research in eastern old growth forests. At the > time, most of the folks in the Massachusetts Bureau of Forestry > (including the chief forester) held that the old growth forest > remnants in Massachusetts were composed almost entirely of diseased, > decadent, and over-mature trees in earnest need of removal - except > for a couple of small areas retained for historical reasons. We've > come a long way since those days. We have an old growth protection > policy. However, there is a push developing today to increase the > amount of young, early successional habitat on DCR lands, presumably > to the benefit of species that thrive in that kind of habitat. > Presumably that won't impact the old growth, but could impact mature, > exemplary second growth. I fear that an underlying motive for calling > for the increase of young, early successional habitat is to soften > public resistance to future clear cutting (cast under euphemistic > descriptions) on DCR lands to feed planned biofuels projects. The > price of protection is eternal vigilance. > From your experience, what is the current "state of awareness" about > Minnesota's old growth ecosystems among state-level natural resource > people in Minnesota? You've spoken to that in the past, but we all > see that the forces of exploitation wear many disguises. What are the > current trends for both state and federal agencies? Do state > designated areas of old growth carry statutory protections or just > administrative ones easy to abandon? > At the federal level, this past July, I was impressed with how much > the San Juan National Forest resource people know about their old > growth and the extent to which NF officials have gone to protect it. > Of the nearly 2,000,000 acres of the San Juan NF and co-located BLM > lands, close to 70% of it is classified as unsuited for timber > management, and I might add, when one ventures out into that 70%, if > one had doubts, they are quickly erased. Remote and rugged! > I'll close with an image taken this past July from the San Juans. The > location is Lobo Lookout astride the continental divide. The view > looks eastward and toward a band of showers that didn't quite reach > Monica and me. I was at about 11,500 feet altitude when I snapped the > image. As you can see, the slopes are heavily forested. Englemann > spruce and sub-alpine fir are the two primary species and they fairly > quickly attain significant height. > One can wander through long, snaking meadows near timberline, > encountering stands of impressive trees tucked into sheltered spots. > The zone that reflects the changeover from forest to tundra is very > complicated in the San Juans. > > Bob > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Lee Frelich" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 9:38:19 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Mt Tom Adventures > > > Will: > > Looks like the Boundary Waters in northern MN. Just take out the forest > and farms below and replace with a hundred feet of water, and it would > look just like the Pine Lake and Fowl Lake area at the east end of the > Boundary Waters. We have millions of dwarf and semi-dwarf red pine on > basalt, granite and greenstone cliffs there. > > Lee > > Will Blozan wrote: > > > > > > Mike, > > > > These are some shots I took back in 2004. > > > > Will F. Blozan > > > > President, Eastern Native Tree Society > > > > President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > > *On Behalf Of *Mike Leonard > > *Sent:* Thursday, July 30, 2009 7:07 PM > > *To:* [email protected] > > *Cc:* 'Belchetz-Swenson, Sarah'; 'Carr, Robert'; 'Dittmer, Paul'; > > 'Davis, John'; 'Goodrich, John'; 'Heller, Sharl'; 'Hurley, Claudia'; > > 'Kaiser, Amy'; 'Jakuc, Denis'; 'Morrison, Laurie Sanders & Fred'; > > 'Neil, Rick'; 'Seale, Doug'; 'Weiss, Nancy'; 'Weil, Phoebe'; 'White, > > Richard'; 'Zorzin, Joseph'; 'Williams, Bill'; > > [email protected]; [email protected] > > *Subject:* [ENTS] Re: Mt Tom Adventures > > > > Bob, > > > > I was real interested in that dwarf old growth native red pine you > > wrote about on Mt. Tom. Have you photographed that? That would be > > something of a rarity. > > > > Yes I’ve hiked through Mt Tom’s gorgeous hemlock forest. Does DCR have > > any strategy to protect it from the HWA? > > > > Mike > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
