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Foresters discuss regional forest management

ISHPEMING — Forests aren’t habitats that typically can be left to mature and be well-managed on their own, what with all the human intervention that’s gone on throughout the years.

Management activities for various areas, referred to as compartments, in the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Gwinn Forest Management Unit were presented Wednesday by local foresters at the Ishpeming Township Hall.

Tom Seablom, manager of the Gwinn unit, said he was pleased with the progress that’s been made in there.

“We’re operating under regional state forest management plans, and we’re managing toward set targets that we have in those plans that we manage for all benefits — timber management, wildlife, fisheries, public recreation,” Seablom said.

Those will be incorporated into those plans and treatments so they don’t hamper each other, he said.

Seablom said inventory activities are to be completed during fiscal year 2019, and next week, the DNR will hold a pre-inventory meeting for activities that will take place in 2020-21.

In about a year, he said, there will be another review of those compartments similar to the reviews discussed Wednesday.

Forestry officials went into specifics about numerous compartments during Wednesday’s meeting.

For example, in the Dead Horse Moraines Management Area in one compartment, uplands are dominated by deciduous forests, with northern hardwood trees and aspen transitions, and an extensive amount of lowlands. Much of the aspens are in the 6- to 9-inch diameter range.

One aspen stand will be cut to create a more diverse habitat in the compartment.

In the Crooked Lake area near Gwinn, a number of hardwood-selection cuts are planned, and in one spot, two aspen stands in the 50-year age range will be regenerated. Also, management of pines, including seeding that involves primarily white pine, will take place.

Several treatments are proposed for the compartment along Marquette County Road 557 south of Gwinn, most of them regeneration harvests. Thinning of red pines will take place in one stand. Where Wilson’s Creek and Bob’s Creek are located close to aspen stands, there will be a 300-foot buffer on those treatments to protect the coldwater trout streams.

In the compartment by Marquette County Road 438 south of Gwinn, small spruce and tamarack stands will be harvested, and there will be a few hardwood thinnings.

In a compartment south of Gwinn and west of Arnold, planned activities include aspen clear-cuts.

In the Watson compartment, there will be many maple thinnings and aspen clear-cuts, with management to favor basswood as well as retain black cherry and yellow birch in one stand.

Aspens in the 50-year age range in the compartment off the Hamilton Homestead Road need to be cut, with maple thinnings also necessary.

In the compartment situated in the Yellow Dog Plains, white pines will be seeded in several stands, and jack pines are the goal in another spot.

Aspens in the compartment near the Michigamme Reservoir are at the age to be harvested, while in the Palmer moraine compartment south of the tailing ponds at the Tilden Mine, appropriate buffers are planned around wetland areas.

Pete Holodnick, a forester for the DNR, said several compartments have SCAs, or Special Conservation Areas.

“We manage for certain birds within that conservation area,” Holodnick said. “The wood thrush likes close canopies. They don’t like a lot of management, so we’re pretty hands off with that particular species.”

The Dead Horse moraine compartment’s SCA is for managing the wood thrush while another compartment down the Hamilton Homestead Road is to benefit the wood thrush, three species of woodpeckers and other birds, he said.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.

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