Porcupine Mountains    Lee E. Frelich
   May 05, 2003 08:01 PDT 

Bob et al.:

Seven members of my disturbance ecology class and I had a wonderful field
trip to the Porcupine Mountains of Upper Michigan over the weekend. The
snow had just melted within the last few days at lower elevations, but we
ran into areas of snow 2-3 feet deep in the higher elevations near Summit
Peak. The Summit Peak Road was a challenging drive for our 2 Dodge
Caravans, but being experienced deep snow drivers from MN, we were
determined to get up to summit peak. So, we ignored the road closed sign
and went just fast enough to maintain enough momentum to plow through the
snow while not going so fast as to lose control and slip off the road.
Unfortunately I hit a snowmobile stud and it punctured a tire, which went
flat at Summit Peak. However, with 7 students angling for bonus points on
the upcoming final exam, the spare tire was installed within a few minutes
with no effort on my part.

The panorama of virgin forest in every direction from the Summit Peak
Lookout Tower was spectacular. With the forest in leafless condition, it
should be possible map virtually every giant white pine, white spruce and
hemlock within several miles of the tower. We also explored the old-growth
hardwoods and hemlock of the Little Carp River valley. We saw lots of huge
hemlocks from the vantage points along the top of the valley wall, but
again, to find them on the ground we'd need to triangulate their position
from the overlook. We need to find a laser that will do azimuth, vertical
angle and distances in the range of 1-5 miles, so that trees or groves
could be marked on a map, and then let the Garmin-12 lead us to the points
we saw from the tower. I dont' know whether such a laser exists, but it
would make tree hunting in large landscapes much easier. Otherwise we in
the upper Midwest, where the tree to ENTS ratio is overwhelmingly large,
will be lost in the wilderness for the next 40 years.

We found dozens of 10'+ cbh sugar maple, yellow birch and hemlocks, easily
visible with the very rare leafless but also accessible condition of the
forest understory. Long periods of leafless condition with good
accessibility are taken for granted by ENTS in the southern part of the
Midwest, New England, and southern Appalachians. But in Upper Michigan's
snow forests, one can't get in, or can't measure dbh without digging down
several feet, much less be able to see the base of the tree, for several
months each year. The snow takes so long to melt that enough growing degree
days sometimes accumulate during melting to cause leaf out of the trees
before the snow has completely melted.   With leaf out, the forest becomes
a wall of green. In the fall, 30 inch snowstorms come within a week after
the leaves are down. So there are lots of big trees in the Porkies, but
they are almost always hidden.

Lee
RE: Porcupine Mountains    lef
   May 06, 2003 16:55 PDT 

Bob:

A very interesting pattern was evident. White pine has permanent refuges
from competition with hardwoods. Mostly they are rock outcrops where
hardwoods can't grow, but they also include river valleys. When a fire
occurs, white pines in these refuges take advantage and spread through the
burned area, and then persist for up to 400 years. If another fire does not
occur before the last pines die in the burned area, then they contract back
to their permanent refuge.

Thus, large patches of white pine come and go on the landscape over the
centuries. We could see several such patches from the Summit Peak tower,
and they were all different ages. Interesting dynamics with a mixture of
permanent and transient patches.

Lee
Porcupine Mountains Lee E. Frelich
Jun 26, 2003 08:01 PDT 

ENTS:

Friday and Saturday I will be leading a field trip to the Porcupine Mountains for the Society for Conservation Biology, which is holding its annual meeting in Duluth, MN, only 3 hours away from the Porkies.

I will have people from Nigeria, Italy, Sweden, the Brookfield Zoo (Chicago), and a few others from the U.S. If they are expecting to see elephants and other such things, their timing is a little bit off, since the last elephants left the Porkies about 9,000 years ago. They will have to settle for black-throated blue warblers, and maybe a wolf or bear, or the footprints thereof.

In any case , it will be interesting to see how members of such a diverse group will perceive old growth hemlock and maple forest, especially those who have no frame of reference for cold-temperate forests. I'll let you know what happened when I get back to the office next Wednesday.

Lee
RE: Porcupine Mountains Lee E. Frelich
Jul 06, 2003 19:44 PDT 

ENTS:

During my field tour of the Porcupine Mountains for the Society for
Conservation Biology we found an incredible hemlock near Presque Isle
River. Didn't have time to measure it because a storm was on the way, and
I was trying to shepherd people from several countries through the woods,
but it was about 13-14' cbh, and the oldest looking hemlock I have ever
seen with huge knarly branches about 18 inches in diameter and bark four
inches thick. It was a real treasure that could fit easily into Merlin the
Magician's medieval forest of Camelot. My guess is that it is 600+ years old.

We also got lost in the Little Carp River valley in an area with many old
abandoned stream channels, and as we crossed one valley after another
hoping to find the 'real' river instead of another old channel, we found
some exceptional sugar maple and hemlock for both cbh and height on one of
the berms. Again, there was no time to measure. These will be good places
for Paul Jost and I to go next time we are there, and absolute must
locations to visit with Bob and friends next time they are in the Midwest.

Well, its going to be another exciting night in MN. Several tornadoes are
making their way across the state, and a line of severe storms is expected
to hit Minneapolis around Midnight--so not much sleep tonight. My new Buick
is safely stowed in its tornado-proof underground garage, and who knows,
maybe I'll be going down there tonight as well. Why can't these storms hit
at a more reasonable hour, like 2 pm? That's probably about the time they
will reach Paul's place in southern WI tomorrow.

Lee
Re:    Lee E. Frelich
  Oct 14, 2003 11:53 PDT 


Tom:

We have a number of sugar maples between 100 and 110 feet tall in the
Porcupine Mountains at 46.7 degrees latitude. With 35,000 acres of old
growth to measure it will be a while before we have a firm number for the
maximum height there.

Lee