---

    Forest Tree Notes
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1                                           May 24, 2000 

---

Welcome to Forest Tree Notes
By Mike Reichenbach, Extension Educator, Forestry

 This is the first issue of the Forest Tree Notes newsletter.  It is being sent to all landowners along the Gunflint Trail.  Information and educational programs on storm recovery will be made available through four issues of this newsletter and three seminars to be held this year in the Grand Marais area.  The content of the newsletters and seminars will be based on input from landowners in the Gunflint Trail area.

How did I get involved?  I started work with the University of Minnesota Extension Service on
July 6, 1999.  I was hired to work in Northern Minnesota to help landowners increase forest productivity and to work with business owners on increasing profitability.  Shortly after my arrival, Bob Sopoci (Extension Educator in Grand Marais) asked me to work with him to host an educational seminar on storm recovery.  I left the seminar with the understanding that many landowners were very deeply affected by the storm, and many more were overwhelmed with the tasks involved in recovery.  I have since had opportunities to speak with landowners who did not attend the meeting, but were very interested in obtaining information.  One landowner informed me that he had decided not to travel to his cabin in the Gunflint area because of the damage.

Funding and support for this project have been provided by the Northeast Region Sustainable Development Partnership, the University of Minnesota Extension Service and the University of Minnesota, College of Natural Resources, Cloquet Forestry Center.

Recovery from the storm will be a long-term process.  Many landowners are prioritizing their efforts by:

 
1) Reducing the risk of fire by creating a clear zone around their home and other structures.
2) Reducing the amount of dead and downed trees.
3) Protecting soils and water quality by reseeding
      areas of bare soil.
4) Planting trees around the home to provide screening, shade and diversity.
5) Planting trees for reforestation.

Reforestation will not be needed on every site.  On many sites regrowth of aspen has already started.  If pines are desired, planting alone will not ensure long- term survival.  Care after planting will be needed to reduce competition from other trees, shrubs and grasses.  Competition can be reduced by cutting, pulling, and applying herbicides.

I hope that you find this newsletter beneficial.  If you have suggestions for future articles, please contact me at the Cloquet Forestry Center.

Mike Reichenbach
Extension Educator, Forest Economic Development
Cloquet Forestry Center
175 University Rd.
Cloquet, MN  55720
Phone:  (218) 879-0850, ext. 123
Fax:  (218) 879-0855
Email:  mreichen@cnr.umn.edu

Back to Top

 
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement analyzes how to deal with the unacceptable risk of wildfire to the public due to extreme fuel loads in the Gunflint Corridor.

The Draft EIS describes alternatives which provide different combinations of fuel reduction techniques and locations of fuel reduction. Proposed activities include hand treatment, prescribed burning, and mechanical treatment.  The Draft EIS also addresses how to reforest blowdown areas.

Copies of the Draft EIS or a two page executive summary are available from the Gunflint Ranger District Office, Superior National Forest headquarters, or at the Superior National Forest web site at www.fs.fed.us/r9/superior.

The Draft EIS will be available for public comment from March 10 to April 24.
Comments should be sent to:
District Ranger, Gunflint Ranger District,
PO Box 790, Grand Marais, MN, 55604
(218) 387-1750.

                                                          Back to Top

How Nature Heals:  Lessons from the
      Boundary Waters Blowdown

Adapted from an article by Janine Benyus, USDA Forest Service

Between now and the next forest, the threat of big catastrophic fire looms large.  Water quality is also a concern, given the loss of tree cover and log-choked streams.  What about the insects attracted to the demolition work--might their populations build up and spill into non-damaged forest?  And how might this additional disturbance affect recreation and tourism?  Is there a way to reduce the threat?  Can we, should we, encourage a more resilient, long-lived forest to rise from the jackstraws of the 4th of July storm?  What does the public want?  These and other questions weave a fabric that researchers at the North Central Experiment Station are eager to unravel.

For the forest, the adventure is just beginning.  When 25 million trees are stacked bonfire-style, the potential for impact---on residual vegetation, wildlife, water, soil, pest populations, and human communities---is tremendous.  For North Central researchers like John Zasada, project leader of the Northern Forest Silviculture unit in Grand Rapids, it's a "once-in-a-career chance to study forest renewal after a massive weather event."  Zasada is part of a team of North Central researchers formulating a research and monitoring program at the bequest of the Superior National Forest.

Before the snow flew, Zasada's crew measured six experimental plots in blowdown areas along the Gunflint Trail that were likely to see some salvage treatments.  They described vegetation and soil disturbance conditions post-blowdown as a baseline for their 10-15 year study.  "We're interested in understanding forest succession in the wake of a dual disturbance--first the windstorm and then a variety of post-storm treatments to reduce fuels, such as logging, prescribed burning, chipping, crushing, or no treatment.  We'll compare the various treatments by noting what kind of vegetation comes back, how fast it grows, how the soil fares, etc."  This summer, they'll expand their study to compare how forests in two distinct soil types respond to similar salvage treatments.  Co-investigator Dan Gilmore, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Forest Resources, says the study will help managers understand their role in forest change: "Does what we do after a storm event make a difference in what comes back?  Does it affect what successional path the forest takes?"

In St. Paul, on March 14-16, North Central  hosted a meeting of interested scientists and other resource personnel from various agencies to talk about how to formally investigate the issues stirred up by the storm.  Teams of investigators in seven areas: watershed management, wildlife, recreation and tourism, fire and meteorology, insects and disease, silviculture, and desired future conditions--will draft short- and long-term  research goals.
Research Team Leader Bill Mattson is eager to dig into the storm-aftermath research.  "Compared to coastal and tropical storms, continental storms are under-appreciated and understudied.  Yet these change agents are likely to become more frequent and severe as our global climate continues to change."  Lee E. Frelich and Peter B. Reich from the University of Minnesota Department of Forest Resources are already seeing the pattern.  In their article about extreme wind events in the Upper Midwest in a (BWCAW Wilderness News', Autumn 1999), they cite two other "superblowdowns," one in northern Wisconsin in 1977 and one just north of Itasca, Minnesota, in 1995.  Each storm damaged close to 350,000 acres.  "Don't be surprised if another superblowdown occurs in northern Minnesota within the next decade," they conclude.

As resource managers on the Superior and Chippewa are finding out, storms like this one, which gave only ten minutes warning, need to be on our long-term planning radar.  How we respond in the aftermath may very well affect how the forest heals, and how it responds next time.  If you'd like to participate in, or comment on this developing research program, please contact Bill Mattson at (715) 362-1174, and wmattson@fs.fed.us for more information.

                                         Back to Top

---

Wildfire Sprinkler System

The basic Wildfire Sprinkler system is a module designed to protect approximately one acre and all structures within.  The module includes 12 sprinkler heads that deliver 60 gallons per minute.  Carlson designed the Wildfire Sprinkler system to copy natural rainfall, Mother Nature's best tool in putting out wildfires.

As of March 21st, 218 modules are on order for 165 landowners, representing $30 million in property value.  Almost all resorts, outfitters, and restaurants have ordered the system.  Their combined annual contribution to the local economy is estimated at over $6 million.

For more information about the Wildfire Sprinkler, contact George directly at (218) 388-9969, or visit web site www.wildfiresprinkler.com

                                                      Back to Top
 

USDA Forest Service Superior National Forest website….... www.fs.fed.us/r9/superior
Information on the blowdown and Superior National forest.

George Carlson's Widlfire Sprinkler website………….http://www.wildfiresprinkler.com/
Provides information about the design and application of sprinkler systems.

The National Wildland/Urban Interface Fire Protection Program………..www.firewise.org
Publications, discussion forum, and videos about wildfire safety and awareness.

The University of Minnesota Extension Service……..http://www.extension.umn.edu/
Information about contacts and services provided by the University of Minnesota.

The Great Lakes Forest Fire Compact…..…http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/www/find/fire/forhome.htm#contents
Information about protecting your home.

American Red Cross Fire Safety Disaster Services……..www.redcross.org/disaster/safety/wildfire.html
Information about fire safety.

                                      Back to Top

©1998 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota.

The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.

TM