Tag: Jack Pine


Duck Lake Fire – Five Years Later

22
September

Former Pine Area


Often forest or wild fires are looked at as destructive and devastating events. We like to think the best thing is to suppress them, when in reality this leads to the buildup of a huge fuel load making the fires more intense when they do occur. The after math is said to be ugly and dead, when all we see is the charred remnant of the once thriving landscape. I would rather like to suggest that this burning or utter “devastation” of the forest is rather a time and process of renewal and regeneration. In the case of northern Michigan forest, Aspen trees sprout in mass providing food and/or cover for deer and grouse. Jack Pine cones open from the heat of the fire, releasing seeds from the resinous cones that have held them captive for years. The result is a super abundance of young Jack Pine trees that within a few years will host Kirkland Warblers. All of this regeneration is currently playing out in this fire area from five years ago. Possibly within a couple of years the warblers will come.

Deciduous Trees


In the vast acreage that has looked so barren, new life has returned. In the dryer upland areas that were Jack and Red Pine stands before the fire, ground layer plants such as Bracken Fern, Wild Blueberry, Bearberry and Sweet Fern have returned. Blueberries have not just returned but have dominated some areas, even this late in the season I was able to find enough for three days’ worth of pancakes for breakfast. Mosses have also dominated some soil types and situations with large matts of lush green moss. Winter Green and Trailing Arbutus continue to flourish, but most noticeable are the young pine trees. In areas where one side of the road burned and the other side did not and trees remained alive in the burned area, the main difference is the lack of lower mid-level green and vegetation. Lower limbs may have died but not the tops of the trees. In areas with more deciduous trees, seedlings and suckering shots abound of White Birch, Red Maple, oaks and aspens. Along the road and trail cuts flowers have returned. Although there are still many dead pines still standing, they are beginning to fall.

Logged Area


Some areas have been or are currently being logged, giving a more barren look. The burned open or more open areas have higher numbers of pine seedlings. In some cases, the stands are very thick, almost sod like.

Swamp Lakes


The wetlands that were dry at the time of the fire have refilled to over flowing in some cases. Other than the few dead trees in the wetlands, you would not know that there were ever burned and blackened just five years ago. Sweet Gale, Leather Leaf and other shrubs have grown back, none the worse for the wear. At a boggish lake in the Swamp Lakes complex, what was a sea of blackened sticks is now a thriving sea of green with the shrubs, sedges, mosses and other plants that have regrown. Pitcher Plant, sundews, sphagnum mosses, violets, sedges, rushes and many others now once again are thriving. These wetlands are as healthy as ever.

Jack Pine


Yes, it will take time for the older trees to be replace, but this entire area is well on its way to fully recovering with a new vigor. Again, what we tend to see as total devastation and loss, is really an avenue to regeneration and setting back the clock of succession.

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Duck Lake Fire, Two and a Half Years Later

18
October

Duck Lake 2014 Pan

At the end of September I revisited the area known as the “Duck Lake Fire” of 2012. This area is approximately 21,000 acres between Paradise and Newberry in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. You may ask why do you keep going back to an area that has been devastated and left charred by the massive fire. Well there are a few reasons as life comes from the aftermath of what humans often think of as a wasteful tragedy. First of all I am photo documenting the recovery of this area; this will go on for years to come. Secondly, while documenting the recovery I hope to learn and show how nature can and does recover from such devastation. And third, I see art and beauty in the burned landscape. There is a certain appeal to me in trying to capture not only the reality but also some artistic images of the fire’s aftermath. And as the groundscape changes with the charred trees standing tall above, there is yet a certain beauty there.

I tried to get back to the area known as “DP1” during the fire; this area is at the southern boundary of the fire zone. As we drove back in the two tracks with my two wheel drive truck it became evident that with all the rain this past summer and fall that I had better turn back while I could. The next to the last water hole we went through the water went up on top of the back bumper of the truck and the next ones where much further across and who knows how deep.

Regrowth

Regrowth

While some areas are stark and desolate looking much of the ground is again covered in bracken ferns, sweet ferns, blueberries and grasses. Much of what is coming back is the limited flora that was there before the fire, only more abundantly in some cases. There are many Jack, Red  and White Pine seedlings coming back, sometimes in crowded masses. Oaks and birches are re-growing from the bases of the burned trees. It was interesting that some smaller spots of earth that appear to be sterilized from the heat are now open sand spots with Jack Pine seedlings growing in them. These areas are surrounded by other thick vegetation.

Two Trees

Two Trees

The fire patterns also show up with a live tree next to a dead one. Near water areas such as the Swamp Lakes and Pike Lake areas, the shrubbery and mosses have recovered exceptionally well and look as if nothing had ever happened. There are also a few other species coming in that may not show up in the undisturbed Jack Pine environment, but the fire has awakened them to a more hospitable landscape for their existence. Lakes that were very low in the dry summer of 2012 are now full and even make it difficult if not impossible to shoot form the same place and angles.

Swamp Lakes Area

Swamp Lakes Area

We as humans often dread wildfires, but they are one natural way of regenerating the landscape and allowing for diversity in the local environment.

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Duck Lake Fire Recovery and Regeneration, One Year Later

27
August

Duck Lake Fire

If it weren’t for the blackened pine tree silhouettes still scattered across the landscape of the area that burned just over a year ago, one would not know that such a devastating fire had occurred. As I visited some of the same areas as last year, it was difficult to get the same exact position and angle for pictures. Larger trees have been removed, so the land marks used a year ago for photo monitoring are gone. Most of the area is covered in a lush green of bracken fern, grasses, blueberry and flowering plants. Hardwood trees that seemed to be killed by the fire are regenerating with new growth from the base. Pine trees are popping up all over as seedlings. Jack Pines need the heat of the fire to open their cones and release the seeds to the soil below. As can be expected this is a bumper year for blueberries in the burned over area. Some are small but many are of good size for wild berries and very tasty.

Pine Seedlings

Pine Seedlings

Wetlands and lakes that were dry and burned over a year ago once again have water in them and are flourishing. Many shallow wet depressions in the midst of dry barren pine areas are yellow with goldenrod as well as with the grasses and sedges in abundance. Sundews, pitcher plants, cotton grass and many other species have reemerged.

Swamp Lakes Area

Swamp Lakes Area

We often look at the devastation left behind by wildfires, but forget that fire is a natural purging and regenerative tool. As already mentioned some plant species need fire to release their seeds or start germination. Fire cleans the landscape of fallen or felled trees and as it moves across the landscape, fire helps to release nutrients tied up in old plant material and litter on the forest floor. In prairies fire helps keep out non-prairie plants and maintains the system. As one walks through the fire zone we see an abundance of new growth and life emerging from the ashes and will continue to see this area grow into a lush environment. The bottom line is that this area is probably healthier than the surrounding areas that have not been burned.

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Duck Lake Fire 2012

4
July

Jack Pine Cone

The area of the Duck Lake Fire between Newberry and Paradise and from near Highway 123 north to the shores of Lake Superior left behind some estimated 21,069 Acers of charred forest. The area opened to the general public on June 11 and my son and I visited on June 15 & 16, only about 3 weeks after the fire first broke out from a lightning strike near Pike Lake on May 24, 2012.

As we turned off County Road 500 and down the trail of DP5 it didn’t take too long to see the southern edges of the fire less than 2 miles in off the main road. Although this was not the hottest area of burn, it was non-the-less impressive as to how so much could be burnt black. Almost immediately it was impressed upon me as to the durability of our native flora. Bracken Ferns, Birches, Maples and others were already regenerating growth from underground roots or at the bases of burned trees. As we moved deeper into the fire zone the devastation only intensified as we continued to realize this was a very intense and hot fire. Again as we moved north to DP4 and on to the mouth of the Two Hearted River and then west the vast blackness and devastation to forest and personal property was unfathomable. Red and Jack Pines in some areas were burned all the way to the tops and left looking like charcoal trees. In some areas the fire jumped County Road 500 and near the mouth of the Two Hearted River it had jumped the river and burnt both sides. While on the beach there, all you could see to the west and inland from Lake Superior was burn right out to the forest edge along the beach.

It is interesting to see areas or parts of plants still green and seemingly untouched, while those all around or even part of the same plant are burnt. Trailing Arbutus in particular seemed somehow not be completely burned off in most areas. In bogs and along lake shores the Laurels and other woody shrubs are now just charcoal sticks all pointing one direction. Pitcher Plants are brown with burnt edges but the smaller lower leaves somehow hid and escaped the effects of the fire and are still green.

The landscape in places of complete burn off were now black, brushed with bright green as if the master artist was beginning to paint a new landscape on this black canvas. In many areas the light green of ferns starkly contrasts the blackened landscape. Jack Pine cones need the heat from the fire to open and release there seed, as this happens and seedlings appear they will add color to the landscape as well.

Life is moving back in or reemerging from the safety of ground nests. Ant hills are visible as the light sand piles significantly stand out against the blacked ground. Spiders, butterflies near the edges and other insects are carrying on as usual. Birds are returning and deer are moving through the desolate landscape. Some areas will not regenerate as quickly as the fire was so hot and intense in places it is thought that the soil is sterilized. In some areas the heat was so great that Birch trees are black and blistered, almost unidentifiable until one sees the new leaves sprouting from the base.

Check back from time to time as I hope to revisit some of these sites and report yet this year and then at least yearly. Follow the rebirth of the forest with me.

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