Tamarac NWR, MN   Lee Frelich
  Nov 17, 2006 00:14 PST 
ENTS:

In the last week I presented a seminar at Michigan Technological University
on the Keewenaw Peninsula in Lake Superior a branch of Michigan's Upper
Peninsula, and Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, to review their 15-year
management plan.

At Michigan Tech I had a royal welcome, dinner with the faculty, lunch with
the graduate students, and meetings with individuals who want to
collaborate. I looked at the new rhizotron, a corridor dug straight into
the side of a hill, with about 12, 4x5 foot panels on each side, that when
opened, show the soil profile through a glass window. I could see
earthworms rolled up in their burrow, hibernating for the winter, and tree
roots at various depths. This facility should be excellent for answering
questions about the underground dynamics of the forest.

On the way home I drove through the southern Keewenaw and Porcupine
Mountains. The 2 feet of snow that had fallen a few weeks earlier had just
melted, and the countless valleys had rushing streams and waterfalls that
you can't see during the summer when there is so much greenery in the
understory. I was the only car on the road all the way through the Porkies,
with its many beautiful hillsides covered with ancient maple, birch and
hemlock trees, with their old growth crown forms readily visible at this
time of year.

Tamarac NWR has 42,000 acres of contiguous lands with many lakes, marshes,
and a mosaic of grasslands, savannas, scrubby woodlands of jack pine, pin
oak, bur oak, white spruce, balsam fir, paper birch, and aspen, and some
old red pine forests and maple-basswood forests. It is near the
prairie-forest border, so it has a curious mixture of vegetation types.

This morning while our tour group was discussing the management of lake
levels in the refuge, from our vantage point on top of a hill under a white
pine grove, we saw a deer run across North Tamarac Lake at full speed,
making it across a mile of ice in about 2 minutes. I don't know for sure
why it was in such a hurry, but probably a wolf was chasing it and decided
not to cross the lake after the deer. Any way, the newly formed ice was
only 1 inch thick, and made a depression around the deer as it ran (if it
had stopped, it would have broken through and died right there), which
acted as a giant speaker, broadcasting the click-clack of the deer's hooves
very loudly, and also creating a vibration sound like that of a flying
saucer from one of those old Sci-Fi movies, which could probably be heard
for miles around, although we were the only people for five miles in any
direction. I think the vibration was caused by a moving wave in the ice.
New ice is relatively rubbery, and people go out ice skating on it when it
is still quite thin, creating this odd sound and waves in the ice,
especially at night when the northern lights are reflected on the ice, and
it looks as if one is skating through space. This practice is not for
timid people--if you hesitate for a second you break through and die almost
instantly (this fate befalls several people each year in MN--but not me, I
wait until the ice is a foot thick).

Lee
RE: recent travels   foresto-@npgcable.com
  Nov 17, 2006 13:59 PST 

Lee/Bob-
Fascinating observation of deer crossing!
Re ice, I'm reminded of a few winter camps where ice played an interesting
role...first one was a wilderness camp on a peak overlooking a glacial tarn
(frozen over of course) in the Gold Lakes Basin Wilderness in NE
California...my friend and I knew we were the only ones for miles, and were
perplexed by what we perceived as voices...we ventured out of our tents (below
freezing temps!), and by starlight approached the edge of the ridge that we
were 'saddled' on, following the "voice trail"...after some serious listening
and subsequent discussion, we determined that it was a diurnal contraction of
the ice that over distance and with the bowl shaped tarn basin, morphed into
voices!
-DonB
Re: Recent travels   Randy Brown
  Nov 17, 2006 16:58 PST 

That's enchanting. BTW a safe method of hearing the 'thin ice sound'
is to toss a small rock across it like a skipping stone. Though this
makes more of
chirping noise. Though this works best when the ice is <1" thick.

  Randy Brown
RE: recent travels   Lee Frelich
  Nov 19, 2006 18:19 PST 

John:

I don't think the rhizotron is open to the public. To answer Bob's question
about what was unexpected in the rhizotron, I would say the uniformity of
soil structure caused by earthworms and the evenness of the depth to which
they work the soil.

Regarding thin ice, I think it would be great to have a northern MN
initiation for new (and old) ENTS members. We could have events like
walking on ice without falling (if that deer could do it, we can do it
too), standing on thin ice without breaking through, standing on a windy
hilltop without a coat while howling for wolves until you get an answer
from the local wolf pack, building and living in a snow cave, managing
hypothermia, traversing the wilderness by dog sled, and using
battery-dependent devices such as lasers when it is -30 (quickness is
essential).

Lee