Superior Municiple Forest

[Larry Tucei]

NTS-- The Superior Municipal Forest is comprised of 4,400 acres of forest and natural habitat, making it the third largest forest within a city in the nation. It is the best remaining example of a boreal forest (conifers and hardwood, including white and red pine, balsam, cedar, black spruce, white birch, and aspen) in the state of Wisconsin. The Pokegama River flows south out of Pokegama Bay and splits the Forest. The Pokegama River is really an arm of the Saint Louis River Estuary which flows out of Lake Superior. http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wetlands/cw/WLS ... 1E8E552DDC I spent about 3 hours walking around in one small portion of the eastern side of the Pokegama not far from the entrance to the Forest at a Hilltop that sloped downward to the river. A mile up the road was blocked by a crew replacing a culvert so I couldn’t get to where I wanted to be so I settled on the Hill. I talked to them and they said the larger White Pine were at the end of the road. They also told me that the western rode had some large Northern White Cedar. I will come back next year for a more in-depth search. White Cedar dominated the Hill tops with mixed Red Pine, Black Spruce, Balsam Fir, Big Toothed Aspen, and Northern White Cedar. The Whites were in the 80’ range Red Pine 70’s range, Aspen 60’s, and Cedar to 60’s. As I went down a draw toward the River the Aspen and Spruce became much taller. I measured one Aspen to 76.5’ and CBH of 5’ 5 “. I spied a really tall Black Spruce near the edge of the River and when I got to it I was like Whoa! This baby is the tallest Black Spruce I have ever seen. It reached 101’ with a CBH of 6’. Superior Municipal Forest is a real gem and is what the northern area of Wisconsin would have looked like in the past. I only touched the tip of the Iceberg here and look forward for a return visit to measure some of the larger White Pine and Cedar. N 46 40.074 W 92 07.492

White Pines

Cedar

Big Toothed Aspen

Big Toothed Aspen

Black Spruce 4 along the Pokegama River

Black Spruce 3

Black Spruce 2

Black Spruce 1

[Jess Riddle]

Larry,

That black spruce is huge! It blows away any that I saw in NY. It seems like all of the far northern species grow much larger in Wisconsin and Michigan than in NY and New England.

The bark on those black ash seems kind of funny to me. Reminds me more of bigtooth aspen.

Jess

[dbhguru]

Larry,

Good report. Thanks. Wisconsin has always been an enigma to me. Historical records suggest there were plenty of sites that supported huge pines. Today there is the Menominee Reservation with a large area of outstanding pines as confirmed by Lee Frelich on a couple of visits. However, my trips across Wisconsin have all been disappointing. Wisconsin is a pretty big state and I only sample it from narrow swaths that follow the highways. I wish we could get access to the Menominee Reservation and do some serious measuring, but I doubt that will happen.

Bob

[Joe]

Bob, is the Reservation forest closed to the public?
Joe

[Larry Tucei]

Jess- The bark on both species is similar and not being real familiar with them I’m just not positive which one it is. I hope to get back up next year in October and if I do I'll check the foilage. Larry

[dbhguru]

Joe,

No, the Menominee is not open to the public. You have to go through a lot to get an invitation. Over the years I've talked to a number of foresters who have visited the Menominee and all had top notch reports about the quality of the practices there. Nothing but good reports.

Bob

[Joe]

Joe,

No, the Menominee is not open to the public. You have to go through a lot to get an invitation. Over the years I've talked to a number of foresters who have visited the Menominee and all had top notch reports about the quality of the practices there. Nothing but good reports.

Bob

Supposedly, you can easily see it from space- in the sense that from space, everything around it looks wasted, but the res is seen as a big rectangle of green.
Joe

[dbhguru]

Joe,

I've not seen the Menominee Reservation so I can't give a first hand account. I do recall Lee Frelich having been mightily impressed by what he saw. I think he thought of it as forestry at its best. The actual practice as opposed to rhetoric. I don't know how replicable the Menominee model is elsewhere, especially across the size scale of forest ownership. On the reservation, the Menominees appear to be able to stay true to their belief of planning for 7 generations. I think that outlook or philosophy allows them to relate to trees in a more permanent way. Trees are a life form that has an important place in their world view. They pride themselves on cultivating feelings of respect for all life forms. On occasion, it actually works.

Bob

[Larry Tucei]

Bob, Joe- I would love to get a chance to visit Menominee and since I travel to Wisconsin anually mabye I could make an effort to go. Larry

[dbhguru]

Larry,

You have to get tribal permission to visit the forest there. The odds are slim, or so I've been told. In Lee's case, he had a student at UMN who served to help get him and Paul Jost access. I think I'm right in these details.

Bob