The pavilion at Presque Isle Park along Peter White Drive is pictured. The area from Sunset Point to the pavilion is one of the higher fire risk areas on Presque Isle Park, city officials said, as it contains fuel in the form of balsam firs along with dead and downed trees. The sloped nature of this area combined with the balsam firs would give a fire the ability to quickly spread upward throughout the canopy and become serious, according to city staff. Due to this, a new forest management plan for Presque Isle recommends removal of some dead and downed trees, as well as balsam fir in that area to reduce the risk of a serious fire. (Journal photos by Cecilia Brown)

“Preserve it, treasure it, as little altered as may be for all time.”

These words by the famed 19th-century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted summed up his 1896 recommendations for Presque Isle Park, which has been managed by the city of Marquette in the century since.

With Olmsted’s words in mind, a new forest management plan for Presque Isle Park was recently developed by city staff with the help of professional forester Jim Ferris of Caretaker Forestry to “define the trajectory of the forest, outline threats to its health and identify management strategies to best preserve the park into the future,” according to city officials.

“This is quite an obligation, a task, that we have in front of us to carry on with this amazing piece of property that we have in Presque Isle; to continue to heed Frederick law Olmsted’s charge that he’s given us and to honor the good work that Peter White did to bring this to the city,” Marquette Director of Community Services Jon Swenson said. “To make sure that the resource is healthy and that we are following the best practices in order to keep it healthy for generations to come, that’s why we got into this.”

This plan is needed, officials said, to help the city work “through the challenge of balancing preservation of this amazing piece of pristine forest with pressures on the resource resulting from an ever-increasing popularity and visitorship.”

The newly-developed forest management plan, which was unanimously approved by the Marquette City Commission at its meeting Monday — following the recommendation of staff and the Presque Isle Park Advisory Committee — focuses on protecting the island from threats including fire, wind damage and human impacts.

The chief concerns, Swenson and Ferris said, are damage from fire and wind on the island.

“The biggest threat to the island as we know it — that is the potential of a wildfire,” Swenson said. “This could happen in a number of different ways. This could be someone throwing a cigarette butt out of their car; this could be a lightning strike; this could be someone starting a campfire somewhere. Those are things that would be really detrimental and could cause a big problem.”

Fire was identified as a major concern, they said, as, in the absence of naturally-occurring fire, the island has experienced a fuel build-up in the form of dead and downed trees.

“Between the pavilion and Sunset Point is probably our biggest threat,” Swenson said. “There’s a lot of balsam fir there. There’s a lot of downed pine trees that a fire could easily take and carry up a slope. A slope is a vehicle as well, fire likes to go up. So the recommendation is to remove some of the dead and down in that section and potentially some of the balsam fir as well, as a natural fire would do anyway.”

Pursuing the removal of fuel sources could prevent a small fire from turning into something much larger and more difficult to deal with, they said.

“If a fire got started, it would stay on the ground and it wouldn’t have those small trees that could carry the fire pretty quickly up into the canopy,” Ferris said. “Fire on the ground is a lot easier to control than fire that is raging through the top.”

Beyond fire and wind, the plan also outlines minor threats, which include invasive species, deer herds above the island’s carrying capacity, direct damage to trees and understory health, as well as possible disturbance of cultural resources.

It’s important to recognize, they said, that with a few naturally-occurring exceptions, the majority of threats to Presque Isle’s Forest result from human visitor activity.

With these major and minor threats in mind, the plan contains a series of recommendations, many of which can be accomplished through policy and education, Swenson said.

The recommendations are minimizing damage from recreational users by ensuring bikes stay on paved pathways and items such as slacklines and hammocks are not used on trees; adopting a policy to prohibit the collection or disturbance of cultural and historical resources, including a ban on the use of metal detectors; developing interpretative materials to educate the public about the island’s unique features, such as its geology, cultural and forest history; develop a fire prevention/suppression policy, including fuel reduction projects and limiting cooking fires to the use of charcoal in designated grill areas; and designating special sites such as the Kawbawgam memorial, Black Rocks, the Cove and Sunset Point.

“A lot of this is really getting the message out about why we have this, why we need to be careful of it and how do we educate people so that they can better use the park when they’re out there without causing harm,” Swenson said.

Another recommendation in the plan is for the city to consider joining the American Tree Farm System, which certifies the forest is sustainably managed, Ferris said. The program is free to join and requires 10 acres of forest, a current forest management plan, compliance with standards of sustainability and a free inspection by a tree farm inspector.

The plan was developed with funds included in the city’s fiscal year 2019 budget, as well a U.S. Forest Stewardship Outreach and Education grant.

The city had entered a contract with Caretaker Forestry in the amount of $2,000 to apply for the forest stewardship grant on behalf of the city and write a forest management plan meeting requirements of the grant program.

The plan is funded through the U.S. Forest Service and administered by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The grant funds will pay for nearly $1,400 of the fees, while the city provides an amount of about $610.

For more information on the U.S. Forest Stewardship Outreach and Education grants, visit michigan.gov/foreststewardship.

Cecilia Brown can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. Her email address is cbrown@miningjournal.net.