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Cloquet Forestry Center Reserve AreasBecause the Cloquet Forestry Center exists for forest-based research, teaching, and outreach, a variety of stands that receive various intensities of management are needed. Management intensity varies from high level, state-of-the-art to natural development. For the latter purpose, 23 areas totaling 319 acres have been designated as either old growth reserve, unique forest type reserves, or instructional/demonstration reserves for the duration of this plan. Reserve areas account for approximately ten percent of the total forest area. Old Growth ReservesLogging of the forest land that eventually became the Center was underway during the Center's establishment phase in 1909-1910. At that time Professor Samuel Green asked the logging companies to leave certain seed trees, groups, or stands of mature white and red pine for experimental purposes. Green's request was granted and several mature stands scattered around the Center were reserved from cutting. Over the years, some of the original old growth reserves have been harvested for various research or management purposes. However, there are clear biological, research, teaching, and aesthetic contributions the remaining stands provide. Using old growth forest guidelines developed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (1994), five stands continue to be reserved from harvesting in this plan. The five stands have origin dates that coincide with two natural fires, 1824 and 1842. They range in age from 160 to 178 years (in 2002) and total 101 acres. Although not all the characteristics of old growth pine exist in each of the stands reserved, enough characteristics do exist to treat them as old growth stands. The five stands will be omitted from harvesting considerations, barring natural catastrophe, for the duration of this plan. Basic descriptions of the stands are included in Table 1. Location of the stands is shown in Figure 1. *Polygon ID numbers refer to 2002 GIS cover type map. See Figure 1 for stand locations. Figure 1: Old Growth Reserve Locations Camp 8 StandThe Camp 8 Stand is an old growth Norway pine stand named after Northern Lumber Company's Logging Camp Number 8, which operated on the north edge of the stand in the early 1900s. (See Figure 7, Cultural Interest Locations, pg. 19). A management prescription was developed in 1983 to address its special qualities. Following a review of the stand's current condition, the basic 1983 management prescription will continue in effect through this plan. Stand History and DescriptionThis 39 acre, 178-year-old (as of 2002) Norway pine stand is being preserved as an example of the once common virgin Norway pine of Northern Minnesota. It exists today because of the efforts of University Professor Samuel Green. Logging of the area was already in progress by the Northern Lumber Company during the establishment period of the Cloquet Forestry Center. The Camp 8 Stand was one of several mature tree stands that Professor Green asked Northern Lumber Company to leave for experimental purposes. In return, the University paid the Northern Lumber Company for the value of the timber. Some individual trees in the stand are nearly 300 years old, but indications are that the major portion of the stand originated following a fire that burned the area in 1824. Five fires, dated by fire scars, have burned the area since then; in 1842 (when the stand was 18 years old), and in 1855, 1864, 1874 and 1894. Until the 1930s, there was little or no underbrush or regeneration in the stand (Figure 2). There are approximately 75 old red pine trees per acre. The trees have an average diameter at breast height of about 17 inches, and there are approximately 26 thousand board feet of timber per acre. The stand today has a moderate to heavy understory of shrubs, balsam fir, spruce, white pine, and hardwoods. Present tree mortality is moderate in pockets, but light throughout the stand. Because of its age, size, and history, the Camp 8 stand continues to be one of the main interest points of visitors to the Center. Figure 2: Camp 8 Stand, 1925 Management PrescriptionCharacteristics of the once common old growth Norway pine stands of Northern Minnesota, still exist in the Camp 8 Stand. These characteristics can probably be perpetuated for another 25 to 50 years under preservation management of the stand. The stand has been divided into two parts. Approximately half (22 acres), has remained in an unmanaged condition to show the effects of natural succession in the absence of fire and management. This area is useful for demonstration purposes as well as ecological research. The other half of the stand received a combination improvement and salvage cut in 1985. All spruce, fir, white pine and hardwoods in the understory were removed. The old growth was examined and salvageable dead trees and any live trees that showed signs of low vigor were removed. Because of the age of the Camp 8 Stand, salvage evaluations will take place periodically and high risk hazard trees will be removed accordingly. Harvesting will be done in the winter, when tree bark is tight, to minimize scarring of the residual stand and to maximize breakage in the shrub layer of the understory. Full-tree skidding is recommended to keep fuel loads low for follow-up burning. The stand's current understory is a response to fire exclusion and is very different from the understory of old growth stands subject to fire. It reflects major shifts in plant species composition and wildlife habitat features. The current understory represents a major deterrent to successful natural pine regeneration, forcing the use of expensive mechanical and chemical treatments if a next crop is to be established. It also may reduce overstory vigor, growth, and survival through competition for moisture and nutrients during dry periods. Finally, the understory reduces the aesthetic value of the stand. Periodic fires could be used to control the understory in the managed portion of the stand. This would also serve as a demonstration of the role of fire in old growth stands and help mimic conditions prior to the time of fire suppression. This could be accomplished by first using relatively low intensity spring fires at three to five year intervals to reduce both fuel loading and the height of the understory. Once the cumulative effects of the long period of fire exclusion were removed, burns would be conducted at five to ten year intervals. Such a prescription was included in the last plan, but from 1992 to 2002 only two prescribed burns were accomplished. Both burns had minimal effect on reducing woody understory vegetation. A combination of limited personnel and infrequent safe burning conditions were major limiting factors preventing effective and regular burns. Neither of those factors are expected to change significantly during the next ten years. Therefore, other initial brush reduction methods will be used to create understory conditions more conducive to the use of a regular burn schedule. It is important to manage the Camp 8 Stand in a way that perpetuates characteristics of Norway pine stands prior to fire suppression so it is available for future observation and research. For two reasons this prescription does not include any specific recommendations for stand regeneration. First, presence of the disease red pine shoot blight (Siroccus strabilinus) on the forest is a concern in trying to establish regeneration under an overstory. Second, and perhaps more importantly, there is a desire to manage the stand in a way that allows natural processes to occur to the extent possible. It is more important to concentrate on getting the stand back into a condition where natural regeneration could occur rather than plan for doing artificial regeneration at some undetermined time in the future. Under the above management scenario, the stand will be maintained as long as possible. As always, there is the risk of a major incident that will render the plan moot. Should this occur, the stand will receive priority attention to try and maintain its old growth characteristics. Unique Forest Type ReservesNatural stands and scarce cover types provide many research and teaching opportunities. As the Center's forest becomes more intensively managed, it is important to identify specific stands or areas that will be exempt from intensive management, thereby being left to develop and/or decline naturally. Many of the Center's older stands were established through natural succession following early logging methods or catastrophic fires, events that are unlikely to occur on the forest again. Many of these unique natural stands developed with little or no silvicultural management, much different from the more intensively managed plantations and natural stands established today. Some stands, such as mature white pine, are unique in that they represent only 0.4 percent of the Center's cover types. These types of stands will be reserved from harvesting until they are no longer considered unique or it is unnecessary to maintain them in their unmanaged condition. Table 2 identifies twelve selected stands totaling 103 acres that will be exempt from intensive management under this plan. Figure 3 shows the location of these stands on the Center. Figure 3: Unique Forest Type Reserves Instructional/Demonstration ReservesCertain areas on the forest are consistently used for teaching or demonstration exercises. These areas have characteristics that make them useful for teaching and demonstrating forest management concepts and will be reserved for those purposes. Figure 4 identifies five areas totaling 301 acres that will be reserved for instructional purposes. Management will not be done in these areas without first receiving approval from instructors that utilize the areas for teaching exercises. Figure 4: Instructional Reserve Locations |
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Cloquet Forestry Center |
Cloquet Forestry Center · College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences · University
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