Don,
I worked for a few weeks in the Prescott Peninsula at the Quabbin
Watershed about 8 years ago doing Timber Stand Improvement work. I'd cut
small black birch poles to release white pine saplings. Otherwise you'd
have a sea of black birch there because of the history of deer over
browsing which also extirpated the oak. I've never seen so much black
birch with a complete absence of oak. So the effect of the over browsing
is essentially permanent. I don't see oak ever getting established there
again - they tried some planting but it all failed.
The management at the 55,000 acre Quabbin watershed has changed
significantly over the last 4 years or so. Whereas prior they did mostly
area wide thinnings, they are now doing more "patch cuts" (1-3 acre
clearcuts). Not only does it look hideous, but it is not necessary to
protect water quality from any future catastrophic hurricane (by
supposedly creating a more resilient multi-aged forest).
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of DON BERTOLETTE
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 4:45 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ENTS] Re: old growth and wolves
Mike-
I recall assisting in research at UMASS in the 90's that
investigated deer browse effect in the Quabbin Reservoir
watershed...similarly, fenced enclosures of oak regeneration were
compared with those outside (subject to deer browse) and the difference
was certainly statistically significant...a positive spin on this was
that oaks so browsed and then protected, developed more established root
systems and grew well and fast.
A quick aside, in my wanderings in the woods at Grand
Canyon National Park, I ran across fenced enclosures from the 30's and
40's designed to study the impact of elk and deer on the understory.
Had to protect them from planned control burns, as they were old enough
to fall under the Antiquities Act...;>)
-Don
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ENTS] Re: old growth and wolves
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2009 16:28:56 -0500
Russ,
Excellent article! So in order to get tree seedling
regeneration you need to introduce the wolf or introduce hunting. This
is a common problem all across the country especially in the east with
the abundance of white tailed deer. I saw an experiment in Wells (Maine)
National Estuarine Sanctuary where they fenced off areas to keep deer
away and the result was half decent hardwood seedling regeneration
whereas the unfenced areas were choked with invasive and non-native
Japanese barberry. Another reason to shoot the deer!
There was talk about introducing the wolf to Maine which
didn't please the locals. I remember when they tried to re-introduce
caribou to Baxter State Park but unfortunately that noble experiment
failed.
Wolves may have already introduced themselves to Maine
from Canada. I have only had a few landowners (from Bernardston and
Warwick) in MA say they saw a wolf. But I've had at least15 landowners
over the years tell me they've seen a mountain lion. Is it the
supposedly extinct eastern cougar, migrants from the west, or as most
state wildlife officials like to say "escaped pets"?
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 10:52 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ENTS] old growth and wolves
ENTS:
Seattle Times recently ran an
interesting article on reintroducing wolves in Olympic NP to stem the
damage to the old growth woods by elk.
Russ
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008667916_wolves25.ht
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