A Northwoods Almanac for 11/11 – 24,
2016
A Warm Beginning to November!
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| 40" dbh hello birch |
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| 50" dbh white pine |
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| eagle nest in white pine |
The ripe
yellow spore cases, or strobili, of numerous species of clubmosses lit many areas
with their tiny candles. By tapping the candles, we released a cloud of spores,
all so tiny and elusive that botanists struggle to study them. It’s believed
that the spores take seven or more years to develop into a microscopic and
often underground structure called a gametophyte, and then another ten or more
years to develop into a young plant above the ground.
The
spores repel water and have been used as a powder on skin rashes and to treat
wounds. In her wonderful book Plants Have
So Much To Give Us, All We Have To Do Is Ask, Ojibwe author Mary Siisip
Geniusz writes that “if a person was setting out on a very long journey, they
would take these spores along in a bag to . . . put in their moccasins to
prevent blisters. It was also used in diapering babies to keep the child’s skin
dry.” The spores are also very flammable and were
used in Indian cultures for ceremonial purposes, and in more recent times for flash
photography, in stage productions, in fireworks, and in chemistry labs.
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| bristly clubmoss strobili |
Sightings
Ed
Marshall spotted the first northern shrike of the year on his bird feeder in
Lac du Flambeau on 11/3. He noted that no other birds were around when the
shrike was present, but as soon as it left, the birds returned to his feeder.
Shrikes make a living by eating songbirds, so when seen, they act as a fire
alarm to chickadees and other common birds.
Diana Schuett on Lake of the
Falls in Mercer sent me a photo of a white-headed goldfinch at her feeders
on 10/28. Over the years we’ve seen occasional examples of birds with either
partial albinism or leucism like this, both of which can result in a partial
loss of melanin pigmentation.
Migrating
dark-eyed juncos are all along our roadsides these days, as are lesser numbers
of migrating snow buntings.
Nancy
Burns sent me a photo of a dragonfly that landed on her jacket on 11/5. My
dragonfly identification skills are still young, but this one appears to me to
be a meadowhawk. The yellow-headed meadowhawk is reputed to have the latest
flight period of any Northwoods dragonfly and are often seen in November, so
perhaps that is what Nancy photographed. Most dragonflies have long-since laid
their eggs and died, so the presence of any dragonfly in November is an unusual
treat.
The Grand Portage
A few weeks ago, Mary and I hiked a
segment of the nine-mile-long Grand Portage in far northeastern Minnesota. We’d
hiked a short stretch of it a few years back and were eager to try a longer
reach, but the day we’d set aside was rainy and foggy resulting in a muddy,
muddy experience.
The Grand Portage, or
“great carrying place” as it was designated by the French, was used for
centuries as the best natural highway between the Great Lakes and the northwestern
section of the continent. The Pigeon River, which now forms the international
boundary between Canada and northeastern Minnesota, could have been used for
this purpose, but the last twenty miles of its course before it flows into Lake
Superior is obstructed by falls and wild rapids making it impossible to
navigate.
It’s unknown whether the native Indians also used the Grand Portage, but it’s almost
a certainty, the only question being for how long. It’s also unknown who the first white man was to visit the little bay at the eastern end of the trail. Radisson and Groseilliers are believed to have
reached the north shore of Lake Superior in 1660, but there’s no evidence they went as far east as Grand Portage. Sieur Daniel Greysolon Du Lhut paddled
along the north shore in 1679 and established
a fort/trading post likely near
what is now Fort William about thirty miles northeast of Grand Portage.
It’s highly probable that Du Lhut and his men traversed the portage, but again there’s no evidence.
The first white man to leave a record of the use of the portage is Sieur
Pierre Gaultier de La Verendrye, who crossed it in 1731. In his account, he
calls it the Grand Portage and infers that it was already well known by that
name.
We only hiked about two miles of the trail, having
experienced enough mud to last us for months, but perhaps in a drier time (a
drought would be good) we’ll try it again. To walk a trail that was used for
centuries by thousands of people is a chance to walk with the spirits of many
remarkable men and women, and mud or no mud, that’s worth doing.
75% Rule
On
11/2, I attended a Northern Highland State Forest open house in Woodruff
regarding Act 358, which in 2015 directed
the DNR to vary the master plans of all northern state forests, except Governor
Knowles State Forest, so that 75 percent of all the land is classified as a
forest productions area.
What
is a forest production area? Here is the statute language:
“The department shall do all of the following with respect
to managing a forest production area:
a. Establish the primary management objective of a forest
production area to be the production of timber and other forest products.
b. Maximize timber production on forest production areas
while using accepted silvicultural practices.”
All
the northern state forests have had to amend their master plans to increase
logging to meet the legislature’s requirement. Note that this language was
placed into the state budget bill at the very last minute and voted on without
any input from the public or from the DNR personnel who actually manage our
northern forests.
I
bring this up because this issue has been flying under most peoples’ radars, and
the comment period ends on November 21. So, please read the documents (go to
the DNR website and search for keywords “master planning” and then click on the
link for “Northern State Forests”), get clarification from the DNR as needed,
and then write your comments.
I
rarely write about legal/political issues in my column, but I’m addressing this
one because the long-standing state statute for the management of our state
forests, 28.04, conflicts with Act 358:
“The department shall manage the state forests to benefit
the present and future generations of residents of this state, recognizing that
the state forests contribute to local and statewide economies and to a healthy
natural environment. The department shall assure the practice of sustainable
forestry and use it to assure that state forests can provide a full range of
benefits for present and future generations. The department shall also assure
that the management of state forests is consistent with the ecological
capability of the state forest land and with the long-term maintenance of
sustainable forest communities and ecosystems. These benefits include soil
protection, public hunting, protection of water quality, production of
recurring forest products, outdoor recreation, native biological diversity,
aquatic and terrestrial wildlife, and aesthetics. The range of benefits
provided by the department in each state forest shall reflect its unique
character and position in the regional landscape.”
The statute further
defines some of the terms in the above paragraph:
(a)
"Biological diversity" means the variety and abundance of species,
their genetic composition, and the communities, ecosystems and landscapes in
which they occur.
(b) "Community" means an assemblage of species
living together in a particular area, time and habitat.
(c) "Ecological capability" means the potential of
an area to support or develop one or more communities through management, with
the potential being dependent on the area's abiotic attributes, its flora and
fauna, its ecological processes and disturbances within and upon the area.
(e) "Sustainable forestry" means the practice of
managing dynamic forest ecosystems to provide ecological, economic, social and
cultural benefits for present and future generations.
Note that
the definition of “sustainable forestry” differs from the definition of a
“forest production area.” Note also that I have no objection whatsoever to
harvesting timber on our public forest lands – Mary and I burn wood for fuel,
and we have butchered many boards over many years while remodeling houses. My
concerns instead are these:
- We
need more light in our legislative processes, not more darkness. A last-second,
backroom legislative act reversing balanced state master plans that took six+
years and thousands of hours of agency and public input to create is simply
wrong.
- An
act that fundamentally negates the state statute requiring a full range of
balanced forest benefits for present and future generations is wrong.
- Fixing
an arbitrary percentage of forest lands to be harvested at their maximum
without any reflection on the unique attributes of each state forest and how
each could best be managed is wrong.
- And a failure to
recognize that all of our recreational areas and landscapes add to our brand as
a visitor destination is wrong. Tourism enhances property tax values. Visitors
form at least 50% of our general economy in many areas of Northern Wisconsin,
but especially in the lake counties. Two million people are estimated to
visit the NHAL every year, and they count every bit as much as the forest
industry.
This bad act, and the process in which it was made by
decree, needs to be reversed. In the meantime, ask that the DNR foresters do
everything within their power to maintain habitats for native biological
diversity, including all species of wildlife, and to remember aesthetics are
what bring people north.
Celestial Events
The full moon occurs on 11/14, and
while it is the year’s closest full moon and has been ballyhooed to be a giant
moon, it will appear only 14% larger than this year’s most distant full moon.
Still, it’s the closet moon in the last 30 years, and clouds permitting, it
should be a gloriously bright night.
The peak Leonid meteor shower occurs
in the early morning hours of 11/17.
On 11/25, look before dawn for
Jupiter about two degrees south of the waning crescent moon.
Please share
your outdoor sightings and thoughts: call 715-476-2828, e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, or snail-mail at 4245N Hwy. 47,
Mercer, WI.
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