Alpena-Montmorency Conservation District
  • Home
  • About Us
    • History of our CD
    • FOIA Policy
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Contact Us
    • Our Partners
  • Services
    • Tree Sale
    • Soil Testing
    • Plat Books
    • Grain Drill Rental
    • Tree Planter Rental
  • Programs
    • Biosecurity >
      • Wildlife Risk Mitigation Project
    • CTAI
    • Deer Habitat Improvement Program (DHIP)
    • Forestry >
      • The Forestry Assistance Program (FAP)
      • Forestry Professionals and Referrals
      • Qualified Forest Program (QFP)
      • Forest Management Notes
      • Forest-Related Organizations
      • Forest Pests and Diseases >
        • Gypsy Moth
      • Ecological Forestry
      • Soils, Fire, Landscapes, and Climate
      • Forests, Biodiversity, and Non-Game Species
      • Timber Tax
    • Hunting Access Program
    • MAEAP >
      • MAEAP Program
      • Get MAEAP Verified!
      • Meet your MAEAP Technician
      • MAEAP Events
      • Contact MAEAP
      • MAEAP Verified Farms
    • NRCS Programs
    • Recycling
  • Events
    • Job Postings
    • Past Events
  • Helpful Videos
  • Articles of Interest
  • Forestry

Articles of Interest

Signature Trees Species

3/27/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sugar maple seedlings in the understory
Forest types are largely defined by the dominant tree species within the canopy of a stand. However, the under-story regeneration often varies, sometimes suggesting long-term forest type changes.
Bill Cook, Michigan State University Extension - March 16, 2020

Over decades, forests undergo somewhat predictable changes. Foresters call this “forest succession”. One of the best indicators of where a forest stand might be headed is from examining the regeneration. Without major disturbance, there’s a pretty good chance the seedlings of today will become the dominant forest type of the future. 
Different forest types have various track records in their ability to reproduce themselves over time. Northern hardwoods can sustain themselves for centuries.  Signature species, such as sugar maple, beech, and basswood, can grow in the shade and will take advantage of small canopy gaps as old trees gradually die. 
On the other end of the spectrum, paper birch and red pine stands have very low percentages of their own seedlings in the under-story. These are sun-loving tree species. Without disturbance, other forest types will replace these forest types. 
Paper birch stands are likely to become balsam fir or northern hardwoods. Red pine stands will trend more towards red maple, black cherry, and different species of oak.  Similarly, aspen stands tend to be replaced by red maple or balsam fir. Aspen is particularly popular with most game species and a growing number of birds with declining populations.  
Enter disturbance. Over the decades, the likelihood of a major disturbance increases.  Such events as wind, wildfire, and pest outbreaks will open the forest floor to lots of sunlight and soils will warm somewhat. These conditions will favor the light-loving species, which tend to grow faster than the more shade tolerant tree species. 
Forester and forest owners can mimic these events through management and timber harvesting. Practices such as clear cutting and shelter woods can help maintain forest types such as aspen, red pine, jack pine, and paper birch. Regeneration strategies of these tree species depend upon major disturbance. 
In the bar chart, the green bars (lighter gray on the left) indicate a forest type’s ability to regenerate under its own canopy. There is a high percentage of signature species already in the under-story The red bars (darker gray on the right) suggest a need for a major disturbance in order to regenerate, as little regeneration of the signature species exists.  Left alone, these “other” species will eventually replace the existing trees. 
Most of the Lake States forests are adapted to natural disturbances.  Since the glaciers melted about ten thousand years ago, the forest area has ebbed and flowed.  Our forests have needed to be flexible. The region historically tends to have large sweeping storms, fires, and major insect outbreaks  Native American intervention increased the role of wildfire. 
As certain forest types matured, the trees served as host to widespread insect epidemics. Thousands of acres of fir-spruce would be killed by the spruce budworm.  Large expanses of old jack pine fell prey to the jack pine budworm. Periodic outbreaks of forest tent caterpillar would defoliate and kill great swaths of aspen.
Wildfire would often result from the huge fire loads created by so many dead trees. 
After these catastrophes, the fir, spruce, jack pine, and aspen forests would grow back Such is the way of natural cycles. 
With human infrastructure spread nearly everywhere, these calamities came with unacceptable risk to people. Forest management has been developed to reduce the negative effects of natural disasters while maintaining those benefits that different forest types depend upon. 
Red pine and paper birch still need major disturbances in order to maintain themselves. However, forestry has provided the solutions to help those forest types and humans coexist. So, the next time you see a clearcut jack pine stand, be grateful the jack pine is being regenerated without a forest fire.
Picture
This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Dr. Greg Corace

    Want to hear about what is new in the science world? Maybe get more information on the birds around us? Or maybe you want to keep up to date on what is happening in our current environment and with the natural resources we love. Check out some interesting articles shared by our Forester, Dr. Greg Corace.

    Archives

    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019

    Categories

    All
    Birds
    Climate
    Environment
    Great Lakes
    Insects
    Invasives
    Sugarbush
    Trees & Forests
    Wildlife

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About Us
    • History of our CD
    • FOIA Policy
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Contact Us
    • Our Partners
  • Services
    • Tree Sale
    • Soil Testing
    • Plat Books
    • Grain Drill Rental
    • Tree Planter Rental
  • Programs
    • Biosecurity >
      • Wildlife Risk Mitigation Project
    • CTAI
    • Deer Habitat Improvement Program (DHIP)
    • Forestry >
      • The Forestry Assistance Program (FAP)
      • Forestry Professionals and Referrals
      • Qualified Forest Program (QFP)
      • Forest Management Notes
      • Forest-Related Organizations
      • Forest Pests and Diseases >
        • Gypsy Moth
      • Ecological Forestry
      • Soils, Fire, Landscapes, and Climate
      • Forests, Biodiversity, and Non-Game Species
      • Timber Tax
    • Hunting Access Program
    • MAEAP >
      • MAEAP Program
      • Get MAEAP Verified!
      • Meet your MAEAP Technician
      • MAEAP Events
      • Contact MAEAP
      • MAEAP Verified Farms
    • NRCS Programs
    • Recycling
  • Events
    • Job Postings
    • Past Events
  • Helpful Videos
  • Articles of Interest
  • Forestry