| Boundary
Waters |
Lee
E. Frelich |
| Jun
14, 2004 06:35 PDT |
Paul, Phil et al.:
I agree that needle shedding is common on newly planted pines.
White pines
at your latitude usually keep three years worth of needles
during the
summer, and shed the three-year old set in September, so that
they carry
two sets of needles during the winter, which is a time of
stress. Similarly, being planted in a new area, and also
droughts and
floods can cause stress, and result in shedding of older needles
earlier
than normal. The lifespan of needles is one thing evergreens can
change in
response to the environment. Pines in the far north commonly
keep needles
longer than in the south (northern MN for example, where white
pines keep
four years worth of needles). The pattern is that if growing in
an
environment that is always stressful, like northern MN, they
keep needles
longer, and those needles are shorter and thicker, but if
exposed to short
term stress such as drought or flood, they keep needles for a
shorter time
than would be normal for the area.
There are also interesting patterns in needle lifespan among
species. White
and black spruce, for example, keep needles for 6-8 years in
northern MN,
as compared to 4 for white pine. This enables spruce to better
take
advantage of the short growing season. I was just in northern MN
this last
weekend. Spruces already have a fully developed set of new
needles, whereas
white pine hasn't even started to form its candles yet, and in
fact just
100 miles further north, white pine drops out of the forest
because it
can't always finish growth of new needles before fall sets in
around the
end of August.
My trip this weekend was to highlight a potential addition to
the Boundary
Waters Canoe Area Wilderness that the Forest Service wants to
log. The
usual entourage of newspaper photographers and TV cameras
followed me
through the woods for about 5 hours to document the site. We
found a
magnificent 400 year old white pine about 12-13 feet cbh, and
several nice
groves of 200-300 year old red pines, and a 400 year old red
pine. There
was also a population of Hooker's Orchid (Bob, didn't we see
some Hookers
orchid at MTSF when I was there?)
Its kind of a late spring in northern MN. Along Lake Superior,
many trees
still don't have leaves, while inland there are small light
green leaves on
the aspen and birch. Lilacs will start to bloom around the 4th
of July.
Downtown Duluth was the usual 50 degrees, and Lake Superior was
its usual
nasty self with a 30 mph wind and 6-8 foot waves blasting into
the harbor.
You couldn't walk the lakeside boardwalk without a rain coat to
protect
yourself from the towers of spray the waves made when they hit
the rocks.
Lee |
| Questions
for Lee |
Robert
Leverett |
| Jun
14, 2004 07:09 PDT |
Lee:
How large is the new area that the Forest
Service wants to log? What
are their stated reasons for wanting to log it? What would it be
like
after they logged it? Thirty years later? Do you see any
validity in any
of their arguments? It is starting to look to me as if the kind
of
thinking that ran the FS in the pre-Jack Ward Thomas days is on
the
rise. Are we facing a new generation of rightwing boneheads? Any
validity in my fears, at least from where you set?
You are right about the Hooker's Orchids
in Mohawk.
Bob
|
| Re:
Questions for Lee |
Lee
Frelich |
| Jun
14, 2004 18:20 PDT |
Bob:
There are a series of about 20 roadless sites, many that are
under the
Clinton roadless rule, around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness. They total about 90,000 acres, of which perhaps
70,000 acres
is forest. None of this land is proposed to be reserved under
the new
forest plan. The degree to which the Clinton rule will protect
any of these
areas is ambiguous and unknown at present. The area we walked is
a small
1400 acre unit. This forest will sprout back to aspen if logged
and grow
back into forest within 10 years, but the amount of money to be
made is
trivial since it would all be used for pulp. To regenerate the
red and
white pine after logging, it would take substantial money and
effort. If
part of the wilderness, natural fires would regenerate it.
I don't think we are seeing a new generation of right wing
boneheads. We
are seeing the last gasp of the old generation trying to cut
everything for
one time financial gain without regard for the future. Actually,
I don't
think any of the staff of Superior NF wants to log any of these
areas, I
think they are under orders to do so from the regional FS
office.
Regarding the Hooker's orchid, make sure you get a GPS reading
for any
significant populations, since it is a species that should be
monitored
because it is susceptible to overpopulations of deer and
invading European
earthworms. It is one of my favorite plants. It is named after
the
botanist Hooker from the 1700s, not the red light district.
Lee
|
| RE:
white pine regeneration |
Lee
E. Frelich |
| Jun
16, 2004 08:07 PDT |
Bob:
White pine is probably the least sensitive species to soil and
climate that
I know of. It grows on solid slabs of granite and in swamps.
All it needs is the presence of seed source, absence of dense
shade from
other trees and especially shrubs when young and not to be eaten
by deer
before reaching the height of at least 6 feet.
The deer were not a problem on our study sites for this paper
around the
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near Ely, MN, and the
Gunflint Trail,
MN because any deer with any sense gets out before the snow
becomes 3 feet
deep for four months with -50 temperatures, and deer only eat
white pine
during winter.
In our study it turned out that fire is much better than logging
at
preparing a good seedbed and eliminating shrubs and advance
regeneration of
species such as red maple that compete with white pine
seedlings. I expect
that the same results would hold in any part of white pine's
range where
competition from shrubs and advance regeneration is a major
problem after
logging.
Lee
Weyenberg, Scott A., Lee E. Frelich and Peter B. Reich. 2004.
Logging
versus fire: How does disturbance type influence the abundance
of Pinus
strobus regeneration? Silva Fennica 38: 179-194.
At 08:39 AM 6/16/2004, you wrote:
| |
Lee:
Lee, before reading the
paper, a question comes immediately to mind.
How does latitude and maybe longitude impact the
conclusions? I can
imagine the white pine's response to fire versus logging
as partly
dependant on the prevailing climate and other variables
that we often
list as affecting growth - as opposed to regeneration.
I'm still trying to understand
at a gross level the sensitivities of
the species I see around me to changes in soil,
temperature,
disturbance. I am finding the sheer number of
combinations to contend
with bewildering. And if all the variables that nature
throws at the
pines aren't enough, there's the additional ones we
humans add to the
list, e.g. air pollution and even the kind of pollution.
Oh, ache and
groan!
Bob
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