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Project ID: 00-2-23

Year: 2001

Date Started: 09/19/2001

Date Completed: 05/17/2004

Title: Managing Fuels and Forest Structure in the Southern Boreal Forest on Minnesota's National Forests

Project Proposal Abstract: The national forests of Minnesota occur in the transition between several major North American biomes. To the west, they grade into the Great Plains, to the south and east the central and northern hardwoods and to the north the boreal forest. In economic and social terms, these forests are in transition as well. While timber production has been a dominant use in the past, recreation of all kinds and in all seasons is a major use of the forests today and rivals timber production in returns to the local economy. Maintaining these and other values requires an understanding of the role of past and present natural and human disturbance in sustaining forest health and productivity. Fire played a significant role in the dynamics of these forests in the past. However, human activities, other natural large and small scale disturbance (e.g., wind, insects, ice and snow damage, disease) alone or acting together have been important causes of rapid forest change. They can also affect timing and severity of fire. The objective of this proposal is to establish sites that demonstrate silvicultural options for managing fuels and in the process creating alternative forest structures. This demonstration will take place in the southern boreal forest in the Gunflint Corridor and the Little East Creek project areas which are adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). It is a fire-derived landscape with a fire return interval of 60-100 years. Within an hours time on July 4, 1999, the character of about 400,000 acres of the BWCAW and surrounding area was changed "forever" by a severe and unprecedented wind storm. In the Gunflint Corridor and Little East Creek areas prescribed burning, salvage logging, and piling and burning are being used to alter the quantity and structure of living and dead materials (entire stands were blown down in many areas creating huge concentrations of fuels) resulting from the storm with the goal of reducing fire hazard. Monitoring the results of these treatments will provide excellent demonstrations of options for managing similar future disturbance on public and private lands.

Principal Investigator: Daniel Nightingale

Agency/Organization: University of Minnesota

Branch or Dept: Water Resource Center

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	Terry Daniel	University of Arizona-Tucson	Psychology Department
Co-Principal Investigator	Kamal Gandhi	Ohio State University	Department of Entomology
Co-Principal Investigator	Dan Gilmore	University of Minnesota	Department of Forest Resources
Co-Principal Investigator	William Mattson	Forest Service	NRS-Northern Research Station
Co-Principal Investigator	Brian Orland	Pennsylvania State University	Department of Landscape Architecture
Co-Principal Investigator	Steve Seybold	Forest Service	PSW-Institute of Forest Genetics-Davis
Collaborator/Contributor	Rob Bryers	Forest Service	Superior NF-LaCroix Ranger District
Collaborator/Contributor	Myra Theimer	Forest Service	Superior NF-Gunflint Ranger District
Federal Cooperator	John Zasada	Forest Service	NRS-Northern Research Station

Project Locations

Consortium

Lake States

There are no project locations identified for this project.

Project Deliverables

Final Report ("Results presented in JFSP Final Reports may not have been peer-reviewed and should be interpreted as tentative until published in a peer-reviewed source.")

	ID	Type	Title
	124	Refereed Publication	Cumulative Effects of a Severe Windstorm and Subsequent Silvicultural Treatments on Plant and Arthropod Diversity in the Gunflint Corridor of the Superior National Forest in Northern Minnesota: Project Design
	122	Refereed Publication	Effects of Blow-Down and Fuel Reduction Activity on Forest Succession Pathways in Northern Minnesota
	125	NonRefereed Publication	Alternative Fuel Reduction Treatments in the Gunflint Corridor of the Superior National Forest: Second-Year Results and Sampling
	8792	Poster	Use of Prescribed Fire as a Management Tool for Enhancing Pyrophilous Beetle Populations in the Sub-boreal Coniferous Forests of Minnesota

Supporting Documents

The following supporting documents are available for this project.

Brief

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